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Ibrahim Adel scored a stunning brace of goals as Egypt beat Spain 2-1 to deliver the biggest shock so far in the men's football competition at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Having won their previous two group games to wrap up qualification with a match to spare, the Spanish made a raft of changes in Bordeaux on Tuesday and were made to pay a heavy price by a Pharaohs side who needed a result to be certain of qualification themselves.
The Pyramids winger Adel did the damage with two superb goals - one either side of half-time - before Samu Omorodion pulled one back for La Roja in the closing stages. Egyptian fans were made to suffer through 10 minutes of injury time before their side's victory was confirmed.
The win lifted the Egyptians into top spot in Group C, meaning they will now be rewarded with a more favourable last-eight tie. That is likely to be against one of Paraguay, Mali or Israel in Marseille on Friday.
The Spanish, who were relegated into the runners-up slot by this defeat, will now almost certainly face Japan in Lyon, also on Friday. The Japanese are one of the tournament's in-form sides having won both of their group games so far in convincing fashion.
With qualification for the quarter-finals in the bag, La Roja boss Santi made 10 changes to the side that had beaten the Dominican Republic on Saturday. However, such is Spain's depth that they still boasted an XI packed with emerging talent from across La Liga and they started strongly, dominating possession in the early stages.
That suited Egypt though and the North African side were happy to sit in a low block and look to hit Spain on the break.
Right-back Marc Pubill, who scored La Roja's opening goal of the tournament against Uzbekistan, almost got another after 20 minutes, striking the foot of the post with a low shot.
But Egypt were a threat themselves when they sprung forward, and it was one such raid up the pitch that led to the opener.
A long ball thumped into Spanish territory was brought down by the lively Zizo, who held off a Spanish defender and squared for Adel to send a brilliant curling shot high into the roof of the Spanish net, giving goalkeeper Alejandro Iturbe no chance.
Spain threw on former Manchester City player Sergio Gomez and Barcelona star Fermin Lopez to try and turn things around in the second half, but an awful error all but sealed their fate.
A blind back pass from defender Jon Pacheco across his own area sent Adel through on goal and he calmly lifted the ball over the keeper to make it 2-0.
Spain pulled one back in the 90th minute when Omordion scored with a header, but Egypt were good value for their win.
Their supporters were made to sit through 10 nervy minutes of stoppage time – although Adel almost sealed a hat-trick on the break – as the European side searched in vain for a goal that would have restored them back to the top of the group.
Morocco also booked their place in the quarter-finals alongside Argentina after wins over Iraq and Ukraine, respectively.
All four teams started the day on three points from their first two games, but it is Argentina who top the group ahead of Morocco on goal difference.
Iraq were left shell-shocked by three goals in the opening 45 minutes of their game against Morocco in Nice.
Amir Richardson opened the scoring on 19 minutes before Soufiane Rahimi, fresh off a campaign that saw him crowned an Asian Champions League winner with club side Al Ain, added a second nine minutes later.
With Iraq needing to steady the ship, they instead leaked another goal, with Abde Ezzalzouli adding a third for Morocco.
In Lyon, Argentina hit their stride with two second-half goals to send Ukraine packing.
Thiago Almada broke the deadlock two minutes after the restart before Claudio Echeverri wrapped up a 2-0 win in added time.
Morocco beat Argentina 2-1 in their opening match.
