The 2024 Olympic football tournament culminated in host country France taking on Spain at the Parc des Princes. La Furia Roja’s under-23 squad emulated the success of their European Championship-winning senior counterparts by beating France 5-3 to clinch the gold medal for the second time. It was also Spain’s first time winning the gold outside home turf; their previous triumph was in Barcelona in 1992.
France got off to a hot start when Enzo Millot scored the opening goal in the 11th minute. Spain then responded with three goals in an 11-minute span: two from Fermín López before another from Álex Baena. They would take this 3-1 lead into the half-time break.
France pulled one back in the 79th minute after substitute Maghnes Akliouche finished off Michael Olise’s free kick. Then in stoppage time, Real Betis defender Juan Miranda fouled Arnaud Kalimuendo in the penalty area, setting up Jean-Philippe Mateta to make the resulting penalty. There was still one additional twist prior to extra time: Beñat Turrientes’ shot struck the crossbar, ensuring that an additional half-hour and change would be played.
Spain would then take over in extra time. Rayo Vallecano striker Sergio Camello, who had earlier entered the match as a substitute to replace Abel Ruiz, scored both of Spain’s extra-time goals to put the result beyond doubt and ensure that the home crowd wouldn’t get the result they’d been hoping for.
Following the senior team’s triumph at Euro 2024, this Olympic title by the under-23 team is clearly an ominous sign for the rest of world football. It must be kept in mind how relatively young their main squad still is. Couple that with the fact that the junior unit just claimed the Olympic gold medal and it becomes clear that for the next decade-plus, Spain are primed to remain a powerhouse of world football and a leading contender for multiple European Championships and World Cups.
A key point to note when looking at this under-23 Spain team has to be the influence of La Masia, Barcelona’s legendary youth academy. Of Spain’s starting 11 in the final, seven players were La Masia products. Similarly, many of the key players of the squad that recently won Euro 2024 such as Pedri, Gavi, Lamine Yamal, and Dani Olmo came through La Masia. If it hadn’t been already obvious, La Masia is far and away the single greatest youth academy in world football - and these recent achievements have just solidified its place as such.
This also bodes well for Barcelona. Over the years, Barça have always tried to lean on La Masia products as the foundation of their bids for La Liga and Champions League titles. This was never more evident than during their dynasty years spanning from the 2008-09 to 2014-15 season when they won three Champions Leagues, five league titles, and three Copa del Rey titles while - at least in the early portion under Pep Guardiola - revolutionizing football through the implementation of tiki-taka. The list of La Masia alumni of that era is truly staggering: Xavi, Andrés Iniesta, Lionel Messi, Cesc Fàbregas, Gerard Piqué, Carles Puyol, Sergio Busquets, and Jordi Alba, just to name the most notable.
While it’s highly unlikely that the current crop will match the standard set by the greatest generation that La Masia has ever produced, the signs are nonetheless extremely promising. Barça are now well-positioned to win multiple league titles and perhaps even Champions Leagues over the next decade. Although the Catalan club have made the Champions League semifinals just once over the past nine seasons, this statistic might very well change before too long.
The absolute peak of both Spain’s and Barça’s dominance from 2008 to 2012 overlapped; both were built on the foundation that La Masia had set. What’s really striking about Spain’s victory at Euro 2024 is the fact that despite being clearly a cut above every other team except arguably Germany, it felt as though they always had another gear they could’ve gone to but never need to - simultaneously a truly frightening prospect for the rest of international football and a great sign for Barça in the time to come.
Spain and Barcelona at their peaks were arguably the greatest international and club football teams of all time. Though even approaching that status is obviously a tall order, La Masia has now put both of their current versions in extremely strong positions.
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