Spain defeats France 5-3 to win Olympic gold medal

In the second half, Spain was comfortable sitting behind the ball and allowed France to have possession, and it was a tactic that harmed the Spanish. 

In the 79th minute, Maghnes Akliouche did just enough to redirect Michael Olise’s shot off a free kick to make it 2-1. The drama accelerated in stoppage time as the referee called a penalty after a VAR review deemed Juan Miranda guilty of fouling Arnaud Kalimuendo in the box. Crystal Palace’s Jean-Philippe Mateta stepped up to take the penalty and cooly put it away to level the score at three-all. 

Extra time was called upon as France continued to dominate possession, but Spain took its opportunity to hit on the counter in the 100th minute as Sergio Camello scored to give his team a 4-3 lead. France tried its best to find an equalizer as time was almost up, but Olise and company failed to create any clear-cut chances. 

Camello got his second goal and put the match to bed after goalkeeper Arnau Tenas threw the ball deep into France’s half as Camello was able to catch up to the ball, dribble to France’s goal and put it past Restes to make it 5-3 in the last minute of the match. 

“These matches are always difficult,” Spain head coach Santi Denia said. “You have a very strong team like France who can sit back and defend very well, but we were able to break them. I’m very happy because our players sacrificed a lot to be here and they deserve to win the gold medal”.