The Moroccan national team failed to continue its adventure at the Paris 2024 Olympics, losing to Spain 2-1 in the semifinals at the Velodrome Stadium in Marseille. The first 10 minutes saw tension between the players of both teams due to several strong tackles, leading to multiple stoppages by the Uzbek referee, Tanchasev.
The Uzbek referee left the field in the 12th minute after colliding with Spain's player Miranda, injuring his ankle, and he was replaced by Swedish referee Glenn Nyberg. The first real attempt on the Spanish goal came from a free kick taken by Ilyas Akhomach in the 16th minute, which the goalkeeper saved. Moroccan goalkeeper Munir Mohamedi then saved a low shot from Lopez in the 21st minute, deflecting it for a corner.
As the minutes passed, Spain's approach became evident, favoring long-range shots. Barcelona's player, Fermín López, took another low shot in the 19th minute that went close to Morocco's goal, followed by a similar attempt in the 28th minute. In the 33rd minute, referee Glenn Nyberg resorted to VAR and awarded a penalty to Morocco after Spanish player Eric fouled Moroccan midfielder Richarlison. Specialist Sofiane Rahimi successfully converted the penalty, giving Morocco the lead, which was his sixth goal in the competition.
The Swedish referee added a significant 12 minutes of stoppage time in the first half, during which Spain nearly equalized through Lopez in the last minute as his shot hit the post. As expected, Spain came out strong at the start of the second half and, facing limited options, opted for long-range shots. Pablo Barrios fired a powerful shot in the 52nd minute that required a superb save from Mohamedi. Ilyas Akhomach quickly responded with a strong shot that went over the crossbar in the 57th minute.
Spain's attempts bore fruit as they equalized in the 66th minute due to a mistake by Morocco's defense: Fermín López intercepted the ball from Al-Wahda and shot unmarked into Mohamedi's net. Morocco then started to regain control, with Richarlison taking a fantastic shot that went just wide of Arnao's goal in the 72nd minute, followed by Ilyas Ben Sghir's similar attempt.
In the 85th minute, Spain launched a counterattack where Lopez broke through and passed the ball to the advancing Juanlo, who powerfully shot into Mohamedi's net, giving Spain the lead. Abdessamad Azalzouli responded with a strong shot just a minute later that missed the crossbar by a few centimeters.
Morocco pressed hard in the final minutes but collided with a solid Spanish defense, and the result remained unchanged, ending in Morocco's defeat and Spain's advancement to the final, awaiting the winner of the match between Egypt and France tonight.
