Soufiane Rahimi scored a brace as Morocco thumped North African rivals Egypt 6-0 to win the men’s football bronze medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics, their first-ever medal in the category, Afrosport reports.
The Atlas Lions narrowly lost to Spain in the semi-finals while the Pharaohs were beaten by France after extra time.
The Moroccans were however the ones to take control of the bronze medal clash, starting with former Barcelona winger Abde Ezzalzouli’s goal in the 23rd minute.
The Real Betis man then turned provider three minutes later for Rahimi to head home his seventh goal at this Olympics which extended his lead as top scorer.
Morocco were not done and added more in the second half with Bilal El Khannouss netting from the edge of the box in the 51st minute before Rahimi completed his brace 13 minutes later to take his tally in Paris to eight goals.
Still in the mood for more goals, Rahimi laid the ball beautifully for Akram Nakach to score the fifth goal of the game in the 73rd minute before captain Achraf Hakimi drilled in a superb free kick in the 87th minute.
The #Paris2024 Men’s Football Bronze Medalists: Morocco 🇲🇦🥉
Congratulations to the Atlas Lions! 🎉🦁 pic.twitter.com/X5qw9T3Dvc
— CAF_Online (@CAF_Online) August 8, 2024
Morocco became the second African team to win an Olympic bronze medal after Ghana in 1992 and the fourth to win a medal after Nigeria won gold in 1996 and Cameroon with another gold in 2000.
For Egypt, it marks the third time they have finished fourth at the Olympics after doing so in 1928 and 1964.
The scoreline was also the highest in a football Olympic medal match since 1948 when Denmark defeated Great Britain 5-3 to the bronze medal in London.
