- France defeated Egypt to book their place in the men’s Olympic football final
- The hosts looked set to be dumped out after Mahmoud Saber netted for Egypt
- But a fightback with goals from former Crystal Palace team-mates secured win
France booked their place in the men’s Olympic football gold medal match in dramatic fashion thanks to goals from a pair of former Crystal Palace team-mates.
Thierry Henry‘s side had been pegged as favourites by many to secure gold on home soil, but Egypt looked ready to spoil the party as tournament top scorer Mahmoud Saber gave them the lead on 62 minutes.
France continued to hunt for an equaliser as the game reached its closing stages and Michael Olise found Jean-Philippe Mateta who duly equalised less than ten minutes before the end of normal time.
The hosts looked set to receive a spot kick deep into stoppage-time but the referee stuck by his initial decision to send the game into extra-time.
Omar Fayed was shown a yellow card protesting the decision, and his caution would come back to haunt him after the restart as he was sent off for a foul on Desire Doue leaving his country down to ten men.
Les Blues made their numerical advantage count and Mateta was once again the hero, heading home from close range to put France in the lead.
As he wheeled away in celebration, and emotional Henry could be seen drinking in the atmosphere of a packed Groupama Stadium in Lyon with a Eric Cantona-esque pose with his arms outstretched to the baying crowd.
The hosts weren’t finished there though, and Olise added a third in the second portion of extra-time to fire France into Friday’s gold medal match at the Parc des Princes.
The result means Henry’s side are now potentially just 90 minutes from securing their country’s first football Olympic gold since the 1984 games in Los Angeles.
Meanwhile Egypt will look to secure their first ever Olympic medal in football when they take on Morocco in Thursday’s bronze medal match.
More to follow.
