41 min Oroz threads a clever pass through to Miranda, whose shot from a tight angle is kicked away by Restes. Miranda, the Bologna left-back, has caused France all sorts of problems and played a big part in the second and third goal.

39 min “How old is Lopez?” asks Krishnamoorthy V. “Few glimpses of him robbing the ball after being surrounded by three or four blue shirts reminds me of Iniesta. Spain appears secured for the next decade.”

He’s 21. The future looks increasingly bright for Barcelona as well.

38 min What’s the French for “noggin’s gone”? They have been a mess since going 3-1 down, unable to deal with the shock of conceding three goals in 11 minutes at a time when they were probably the better team.

36 min Kone is booked for a foul on Oroz. Some of the earlier tackles were probably worse, but the referee had to book a French player sooner rather than later. Kone took the bullet.

34 min The crowd and the French players are going through the various stages of grief. They’re currently at anger.

They desperately need a goal or even a chance to help them refocus; at the moment they’re just fouling everything that moves.

33 min “After the women’s selección’s poor performance in the bronze game, this is Redemption,” says Charles Antaki. “Roja-demption, perhaps.”

32 min Now Lacazette is fortunate not to be booked after a poor tackle on Barrios. Seconds later, Miranda goes down holding his face after a hand to the neck from Millot.

31 min This hasn’t been a typical Spain performance at all. France have dominated possession, but Spain have been utterly ruthless.

29 min Baena moved the foam just before taking the free-kick, though whether it made any difference I don’t know. France look shell-shocked.

The free-kick was a fair way to the left of centre. Baena curled it over the head of Kone, who didn’t jump properly, and beat the flat-footed Restes at the near post. My word.

GOAL! France 1-3 Spain (Baena 28)

27 min The marauding Miranda is cynically blocked on the edge of the area by Sildillia. He should’ve been booked for that.

It was another good move from Spain. Somebody pinged a crossfield pass out to Miranda, the overlapping left-back. He hit a fantastic early cross towards Ruiz, who got the wrong side of Bade at the near post. Ruiz’s close-range shot was desperately saved by Restes but Lopez gobbled up the rebound with considerable glee.

GOAL! France 1-2 Spain (Lopez 25)

23 min Garcia and Mateta both stay down after a collision on the edge of the area. France think Mateta was fouled, and replays suggest they might have a case, but the referee isn’t having it.

21 min Lacazette wins a corner for France, which leads to another. Olise curls it in and Mateta’s stooping header is too close to Tenas. It was a decent effort as he had to duck into the ball and then twist his neck to steer the header towards goal.

Spain worked the ball nicely on the right before moving it infield to Baena. He sliced France open with an angled through pass towards Lopez, in a frankly unconscionable amount of space in the penalty area. Lopez took the chance first time, dragging a slightly scruffy but highly effective shot across Restes and into the left-hand corner.

The defending looked dodgy but it was still a beautifully worked goal from Spain.

GOAL! France 1-1 Spain (Lopez 18)

17 min “The Spanish goalkeeper’s howler reminds me of Luis Arconada’s mistake 40 years ago when these nations last met in a final at the Parc des Princes (2-0 for France to win Euro 1984),” writes Amar Breckenridge.

That’s a great comparison – I didn’t realise, until checking it just now, that Arconada also wrongfooted himself.

16 min “I have just seen the first goal in slow motion at least five times,” writes Krishnamoorthy V. “Does it count as an assist by Spain?”

14 min It’s all France at the moment. Millot’s cross nutmegs Miranda and only just evades Mateta in front of goal.

What a strange goal. A cross from the right was half blocked near the byline, then a Spain defender miskicked their clearance under pressure from Lacazette. Millot ran onto the loose ball, on the right edge of the area, and curled a first-time shot that Tenas – who wrongfooted himself by moving towards the near post – could only punch into the other corner of the net.

GOAL! France 1-0 Spain (Millot 11)

7 min Abel Ruiz threatens to get away down the left, running onto a long pass, but Bade catches him up and then dispossesses him with the minimum of fuss.

5 min It’s been a stop-start start to the game, and yes I know there’s a more elegant way of saying that but it won’t come to mind. A stop-start opening just sounds weird.

3 min Now Fermin Lopez is down after being kneed in the vicinity by Lukeba. It was accidental but looked pretty painful, and Lopez is still wriggling in pain as he receives treatment.

2 min “This had better be good,” fumes Charles Antaki. “The Spain women’s team were an absolute bust against a dismally defensive Germany, the thing settled by a successful penalty against a poorly taken and any case not particularly well-deserved one. So far then, Spain nil, entertainment nil. Time for Fermin Lopez and company to step up.”

1 min Sergio Gomez goes down holding his face after a hand-off from Sildillia. The crowd jeer heartily and eventually he gets to his feet.

1 min Peep peep! Spain, in their pale yellow change kit, kick off from right to left as we watch.

“Hi Rob,” says Peter Oh. “If anyone thinks there is nothing between France and Spain, I say look at the map and apologise to the nearest Andorran.”

As the players stand for the anthems, here’s a quick reminder of the two teams.

France (possible 4-3-1-2) Restes; Sildillia, Bade, Lukeba, Truffert; Millot, Kone, Chottard; Olise; Mateta, Lacazette.
Substitutes: Nkambadio, Akliouche, Cherki, Doue, Kalimuendo, Locko, Magassa.

Spain (possible 4-2-3-1) Tenas; Pubill, E Garcia, Cubarsi, Miranda; Barrios, Baena; Oroz, Lopez, Gomez; Ruiz.
Substitutes: S Garcia, Bernabe, Camello, Gutierrez, Pacheco, Sanchez, Turrientes.

Referee Rafael da Silva Alves (Brazil)

France have also won this competition once, in Los Angeles in 1984. Their star was the Lens striker Daniel Xuereb; he scored four times in three knockout games, including the clincher in a 2-0 win over Brazil in the final.

Spain have won gold in the men’s football just once, in Barcelona in 1992. A star-studded team – Pep, Albert Ferrer, Kiko, Abelardo, Alfonso, Luis Enrique – beat Poland 3-2 in a classic final.

Read Jonathan Liew on Thierry Henry

For all the abundant talent in this French side – Michael Olise, Mateta, Alexandre Lacazette – it is Henry who lends the star wattage to Friday’s Olympic final against Spain, gives it shape and meaning. As a player Henry won everything. As a coach he has won nothing, to the point where it was legitimate to ask whether he had a future in a career for which he clearly had so much passion and enthusiasm.

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