PREVIEW | Morocco next up in Marseille on route to Gold in Paris
The road to gold in Paris passes through Marseille and a difficult duel against Morocco, the team that stands between Spanish football and an Olympic final for the second consecutive Games.
Spain - Morocco, first semi-final, at 18.00 (La1 and Eurosport)
It won't be easy. Santi Denia's team are looking to take a significant step towards their Olympic aspirations by following the path marked out against Japan, where they showed a high level of performance and goals. In their three wins in four games, the Spanish team has nine goals scored from seven different players, the top scorer being Fermín López with three goals, the last two of which were decisive in the quarter-final.
Morocco are playing in the semi-finals for the first time in their eighth appearance at the Olympic Games. With three wins from their four matches in the tournament so far, Tarik Sektioui's side is one of the best-performing teams with ten goals scored and two conceded. They have in their ranks Soufiane Rahimi, who has scored in each of Morocco's four games at Paris 2024 and is the tournament's top scorer with five goals.
This will be the second time Spain have faced an African team in the Olympic semi-finals. At Barcelona 1992 they claimed a 2-0 win over Ghana on their way to gold.
The imposing 67,000-capacity Marseille Stadium will be filled with a majority of rival fans in the stands but the Spanish team will also feel their support, as they have in previous matches, of the Spanish fans who will be on the semi-final stage. This generation of young footballers have the chance to make history to try to achieve yet more success that would add to the Spanish delegation's medal tally
