Spain saw off Japan 3-0 to reach the semi-finals of the Paris Olympics thanks to Fermin Lopez's superb double and a harsh VAR call.
Barcelona youngster Fermin, who played a bit-part role as Spain won Euro 2024, slammed in a sublime strike in each half of Friday's quarter-final in Lyon.
Having beat the despairing dive of Leo Kokubo with a long-range left-footed effort in the 11th minute, Fermin took centre stage again midway through the second half as he lashed in with an expertly controlled volley after taking the ball down on his chest.
Matters could have been vastly different had a first-half equaliser for Japan been allowed to stand, however.
Mao Hosoya brilliantly spun Pau Cubarsi to arrow home, only for the goal to be disallowed for the forward's right foot to have been millimetres offside as he tussled with the Spanish centre-back.
Hosoya was denied by Spain goalkeeper Arnau Tenas late on, but La Roja added gloss to an ultimately convincing win when captain Abel Ruiz poked in from close range after Japan failed to clear their lines from a set-piece.
Kota Takai struck the crossbar in one last fruitless attempt for Japan, and Spain will now ready themselves for a last-four tie with Morocco.
Data Debrief: Fabulous Fermin
Spain have one of the strongest squads at the tournament, and Fermin is possibly the standout.
He showed all his quality with his fantastic long-range finishes, which came from a combined expected goals (xG) of just 0.03.
Fermin had five shots in total, and hit the target with four of them, as he moved into joint-second place in the goalscoring charts with three, behind Morocco's Soufiane Rahimi.
Jamaica's Rajindra Campbell through to men’s shot put final in Paris
Jamaica’s Rajindra Campbell successfully made it through to the final of the men’s shot put on day two of Athletics competition at the Paris Olympics in the Stade de France on Friday.
Campbell, competing in the first qualifying group, produced only one legal throw measuring 21.05m which was good enough 10th overall in qualifying among the two groups.
The 28-year-old has a season’s best 22.16m done at the Madrid World Continental Indoor tour meet in February.
Campbell is also currently Jamaica’s national record holder with his 22.22m done in Madrid in 2023.
Italian Leonardo Fabri led all qualifiers to the final in Paris with 21.76 with Czechia's Tomas Stanek (21.61m), Americans Payton Otterdahl (21.52m), World record holder Ryan Crouser (21.49m) and New Zealand's Tom Walsh (21.48m) and Jacko Gill (21.35m) rounding out the top six.
Also joining Campbell in the final will be USA's Joe Kovacs (21.24m), Mexico's Uziel Munoz (21.22m), Nigeria's Cornnell Enekwechi (21.13m), Italy's Zane Weir (21.00m) and Norway's Marcus Thomsen (20.81m).
Djokovic to battle Alcaraz for gold in Olympics showdown
Novak Djokovic will face Carlos Alcaraz in the final of the men's singles at the Paris Olympics.
Djokovic, having seen Alcaraz dispatch Felix Auger-Aliassime in straight sets, made light work of Lorenzo Musetti in Friday's second semi-final to qualify for an Olympics singles showpiece match for the first time in his incredible career.
The Serbian won 6-4 6-2 at Roland-Garros, where he also defeated Rafael Nadal en route to reaching the final.
Now, Nadal's compatriot Alcaraz stands in between Djokovic and his first gold medal, who previously claimed bronze at the 2008 Games.
Djokovic will also have revenge on his mind, with Sunday's showdown coming just three weeks after the 37-year-old lost to Alcaraz in the Wimbledon final.
The pair's head-to-head record stands at three wins apiece.
Data Debrief: Three of a kind
In reaching his maiden Olympic gold medal match, Djokovic became just the third player to reach the singles final after turning 30 since tennis returned to the Games in 1988.
It is quite the illustrious list, with Djokovic joining Serena Williams and his old foe Roger Federer, who both reached the respective men's and women's finals in London 12 years ago.
Should he triumph against Alcaraz, Djokovic will become just the fifth player to complete a career golden slam, which includes winning all four grand slams and a singles Olympic gold medal.
Only Stefanie Graf, Andre Agassi, Nadal and Williams have previously done so.
Ancelotti unlikely to take another club role after Real Madrid
Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti has suggested he will not join another club once his tenure at the Santiago Bernabeu comes to an end.
Ancelotti is three years into his second stint at Madrid, and he has led Los Blancos to a swathe of success since re-joining the Spanish giants from Everton.
Madrid have won LaLiga and the Champions League twice each since 2021, with Ancelotti the first coach to win the latter trophy on five occasions.
The 65-year-old, who had been linked with the Brazil job, signed fresh terms with Madrid to extend his stay until the end of the 2025-26 season.
And he does not foresee himself taking up another club job, while he also hinted international coaching may not be for him either.
Speaking on the Obi One Podcast, as reported by The Athletic, Ancelotti said: "I think it will be my last club, I have to say.
"If there would be an opportunity for a national team, I don't know. I’m not so excited to be in a national team because of the fact that I would lose what I like most, the day-by-day [training].
"The day-by-day I like. To be here, to prepare the training, to talk to the players, to prepare the games.
"This is my 29th season as a coach. It's true that I have won a lot but imagine the number of titles I lost. I lost a lot."
Ancelotti has coached in each of Europe's top five leagues, though he admitted finding it difficult to fully adapt to life in Germany when he was in charge of Bayern Munich.
"I had luck, I went to the best team in England, in Spain, in Germany. But I was able to adapt to the culture," he said.
"I tried to learn the languages. I learned English, Spanish, French; I was not able to learn German, it's impossible — not difficult, impossible!"
Madrid take on rivals Barcelona in a friendly in the United States on Saturday. They start their LaLiga title defence against Real Mallorca on August 18, though before that they face Atalanta in the Super Cup.
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