- 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 on Monday 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 they got it when Michael Olise found Jean-Philippe Mateta who duly equalised less than ten minutes before the end of normal time.
With the seconds counting down, the hosts looked set to be awarded a spot kick deep into stoppage-time following a handball inside the penalty box.
Despite a VAR review appearing to show contact, the match official stuck by his initial decision that a push led to the incident, and the clash wore on into extra-time.
France booked their place in the Olympic gold medal match with a 3-1 win over Egypt
Thierry Henry’s side will now take on Spain on Friday in a bid to secure Olympic glory
Tournament top scorer Mahmoud Saber stunned the home crowd by giving Egypt the lead
But the hosts levelled in the closing stages Michael Olise set up his former Crystal Palace team-mate Jean-Philippe Mateta
Omar Fayed was shown a yellow card amid the furore surrounding the referee’s decision, and this 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 promptly 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 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.
Egypt were reduced to ten men in extra-time after Omar Fayed was shown a second yellow
Mateta was then on hand to head home from close range to give Les Blues the lead
Bayern new boy Olise swept home to add a third putting the result beyond doubt
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 when they face Spain at the Parc de Princes.
Meanwhile Egypt will look to secure their first ever Olympic medal in football when they take on Morocco in Thursday’s bronze medal match.
