Superlative Fermín guides Spain into final

Fermín López is one of the shining stars at these Olympic Games. Things were looking very awkward indeed for Spain in today's men's football semi-final against Morocco. But the Barça man had some tricks up his sleeve to save the day and put his team within one win of a gold medal that they haven't won since Barcelona hosted the games in 1992.

Trailing by a goal, he produced an equaliser and then set up the second to keep the dream alive for himself and his club colleagues Pau Cubarsí and Eric Garcia who also played stellar roles in the middle of the Spanish defence.

Things were looking very nasty indeed after Morocco took the lead through a Rahimi penalty shortly before the break. It was practically an away game for Spain, with the Marseilles stadium absolutely packed to the rafters with Moroccan supporters. But the momentum finally swung Spain's way after Fermín pounced on a miscontrolled ball to seize the chancre to convert his fourth goal of the competition, hot on the heels of a brace against Japan in the quarter finals.

From there on, Spain were finally on top, and Fermín then picked out Juanlu running through on goal, and the Sevilla youngster made no mistake in making it 2-1, with too little time for the North Africans to muster a response.

After coming home from Tokyo three years ago with a set of silver medals, with Eric García in that squad too, it's either France or Egypt that now stand between Spain and the chance to go one better. And if they do that, Fermín Lopez will very much be one of the main men to thank!