Fermín the Olympian hero

Fermín López is returning to Barcelona as the outstanding star of the men's football tournament at the Paris Olympics. His remarkable six goals spearheaded his country's march to its first set of gold medals since 1992, and in doing so he becomes Spain's highest goalscorer ever at the Games.

Two braces

All of the Dominican Republic, Japan, Morocco and France were on the receiving end of the Barça star's electric displays in the Spanish machine. In the group stage he was on target against the Caribbean side, but it was in the knockouts when he truly took centre stage.

A gorgeous left footer was powered in from outside the area to open the scoring against the Japanese, and then he used his stronger foot, the right, to convert the classic predator's finish to settle the victory and ensure passage into the semi-finals. 

It was there that Morocco were waiting, and again it was Fermin's left foot that delivered the master-stroke. With Spain behind and struggling, the 21-year-old seized the moment, and then provided the assist for the game-winning second. 

For Barça fans, it was enormously encouraging to see how the attacking midfielder consistently rose to the most difficult of occasions. Against France, Spain were again trailing but the Masia graduate needed just five minutes to turn things around. A brilliantly timed run led up to the equaliser, and a matter of moments later he was jumping on a rebound off the keeper to silence the partisan home crowd and set La Roja on the road to gold. 

Olympic and European champion in the same year

To think it was less than a year ago that Fermín was an unknown youngster making his FC Barcelona debut. Since then he has gone on to play in and win Euro 24 for his country, and has capped that by also becoming an Olympic champion. It's the first time anyone has managed to do that since 1984, when Albert Rust did likewise for France. Fermín now joins that select group along with Villarreal's Álex Baena.