Spain won Olympic gold after returning from a goal down in the first half to beat France 5-3. They held on through a late French comeback and overtime to cap off a glorious summer for Spanish football.
Following the men’s senior team’s July European Championships triumph, the U-23 squad showed in a thrilling final at Parc des Princes that another wave of champions is on the horizon.
The men’s soccer gold medal match had the most significant scoring since 1912.
IIn a dramatic comeback from behind after falling to Enzo Millot’s opening for Thierry Henry’s undefeated team in the 10th minute, Barcelona star Fermin Lopez bagged a brace, and Villarreal’s Alex Baena scored a fantastic free-kick.
Even though Spain’s goalkeeper Arnau Tenas, who plays club football for PSG in Paris, stopped France many times on Friday night, the French team showed resilience in their semi-final match against Egypt, bouncing back from the shock of going down first.
Substitute Maghnes Akliouche was fouled in the area, but Tenas could not save Jean-Philippe Mateta’s penalty in extra time, which leveled the score at three-three.
After the midfielder from Monaco had restored Les Bleus’ lead, a video assistant referee review determined that Benat Turrientes of Spain had fouled him.
Mateta dusted himself off to score the penalty, setting the stage for the thrilling extra time.
In the first half of that tense extra time, Santi Denia’s squad again showed their toughness, this time via Sergio Camello, another replacement.
READ MORE – Olympic Football Legacy
In the match’s dying moments, Camello of Rayo Vallecano scored the game-winning goal for Spain after pouncing on a pinpoint long-range effort by goalie Tenas.
Spanish fans were thankful for Tenas’s game-winning saves and that final assist, even though they had long since removed their lethal pair of Lopez and Baena. The latter was La Liga’s joint top goal producer last season.
After a timid first-half defense, the 23-year-old goalkeeper from Barcelona’s La Masia program joined PSG last summer, but he utterly mishandled Millot’s first-time left-footed effort.
In the second half, France pressed hard, but he made up for it with two spectacular stops that denied Mateta, a striker for Crystal Palace, and Kouadio Kone, a midfielder.
In the 79th minute, with the help of the passionate Parisian fans, the home team drew level when substitute Maghnes Akliouche’s barely touched free-kick from Michael Olise looped into the goal.
With his usual vigor and talent, Olise—who plays for Bayern Munich—led the French comeback and assisted on their fourth tournament goal.
In the 94th minute of regulation time, a corner kick was awarded when Monaco player Akliouche was once again fouled in the penalty area by Turrientes.
Brazilian referee Ramon Abatti finally pointed to the spot after video assistant referees reviewed the incident.
As Parc des Princes entered a frenzy, Mateta hammered the ball into the corner under intense pressure.
As France advanced upfield in the sixth minute of extra time, Turrientes hit the crossbar.Thanks to Henry’s energetic presence in the technical area, his guys continued to fight through extra time fatigue.
Still, they could not retrace their steps, and Spain’s beautiful summer persisted.
In 1996, the men’s water polo team from Spain became the first Spanish team to win an Olympic medal in any sport.
Up until the 2024 men’s football team entered the Parc Des Princes, they had lost every final in every sport.
Despite not fielding their two most promising young players—Niko Williams and Lamine Yamal—Spain emerged victorious in the tournament.
Williams and Yamal both had outstanding performances in Euro 2024. Without mentioning specific persons, this is Spain’s most significant achievement thus far.
The Spanish players were connected because they had played together for so long in childhood, but this wasn’t the same powerful squad that won Euro 2024.
Because of it, they won the Olympic gold medal, and a few key players stepped up at the appropriate moment.
Fermin Lopez will be remembered for his impressive performance in the tournament. He scored six goals and added two assists in only six games.
Two years ago, he was unworthy of a position on Barcelona’s reserve squad. Currently, Alex Baena is in charge of the team’s midfield.
Center-back Pau Cubarsi of Barcelona became the youngest player in football history to win a gold medal when he was only 17 years old.
It seemed fated that the team’s backup striker would score the winning goals in a closely contested final, even though the major players were present.
Like Mikel Oyarzabal in the 2024 Euro final vs England, Sergio Camello in Paris came up big in extra time when Spain seemed to be down and out.
The summer of 2024 will go down in history books as one that brought so much memories for Spain male football team.
