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Juanlu Sanchez came off the bench to fire Spain to a record-equaling fifth Olympic men’s soccer final on Monday.
Sanchez struck in the 85th minute at Stade de Marseille to seal a 2-1 win over Morocco and set up a final against either France or Egypt.
Morocco led 1-0 at half-time after the tournament’s leading scorer Soufiane Rahimi converted a penalty in the 37th.
Spain evened the score in the 65th after Fermin Lopez showed quick feet in the box and fired a left-footed shot low into the bottom corner. It was the Barcelona midfielder’s fourth goal of the tournament and over-exuberant celebrations earned him a yellow card after kicking the corner flag and breaking it in two.
It was Lopez’s assist that set up Sanchez to sweep his winning goal low into the far corner.
Referee Ilgiz Tantashev of Uzbekistan limped off the field 15 minutes into the match shortly after he was inadvertently knocked down by Spain defender Marc Pubill near midfield.
Spain, who won gold at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, were the beaten finalist at the Tokyo Games three years ago when they lost to Brazil.
It’s been an impressive year for both the men’s and women’s teams from Spain. The women won the 2023 World Cup and are still in contention for the Gold medal in Paris with a semifinal against Brazil on Tuesday. The men’s team are fresh off a win at the 2024 European Championship.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this story.