France fought back to defeat 10-man Egypt 3-1 in extra time to advance to the men’s Olympic football final, led by two goals from Jean-Philippe Mateta.
As a result, when Thierry Henry‘s team plays Spain at the Parc des Princes on Friday at 17:00 BST, they will undoubtedly win their first medal in the event in forty years.
In Lyon, Mateta, 27, scored a late equalizer off a feed from Michael Olise to tie the score after Mahmoud Saber had given Egypt the lead with a close-range goal.
Nine minutes into the extra period, Crystal Palace attacker Mateta gave the home team the lead after Omar Fayed was sent out for a second yellow card.
Faye’s first booking came in second-half stoppage time as he protested against a French appeal for a penalty that was not awarded after a VAR review.
Olise rounded off the scoring for France, with Egypt now set to face Morocco in Nantes on Thursday (16:00) in the bronze-medal match.