Brazil have reached their third consecutive men’s Olympic final after beating Mexico on penalties.
In the shootout, Mexico missed two of their first three penalties, with Brazil netting all four of their spot-kicks in the semi-final at Tokyo 2020.
Gabriel Martinelli, Bruno Guimares, Reinier and captain Dani Alves all stepped up and scored from the spot.
Alves, who is now 38-years-old, will be looking to add an Olympic gold medal to his illustrious list of career honours.
After the game, he said (via ESPN): “Mexico is an opponent that we respect a lot because of the football school they have and how they fight in games.
“We have already suffered with this opponent. But that is football.
“We had a very good performance, we suffered when we had to, but I believe we deserved to be in this final.
“There’s one game left. We need to maintain our focus and concentration. It’s very difficult to win games when you face such different opponents. This requires a vast adaptation.
“We have a staff that controls that very well and gives us the necessary information and it has given results. We just need to take one more step.”
Gold & bronze medal match details
Brazil will face Spain in the final, after Luis de la Fuente’s side defeated Olympic hosts Japan in extra-time in the other semi-final.
Marco Asensio scored the only goal in the 115th minute to ensure Spain’s progression.
Mexico, meanwhile, will face Japan in the bronze medal match, which takes place on Friday at 8pm local time.
They have thus far gone unbeaten throughout the men’s tournament, having secured seven points from three games in the group stage.
In their first match of the tournament – a 4-2 win against Germany – Everton’s Richarlison became the first Premier League player to score a hat-trick at an Olympic Games.
He currently tops the scoring charts in the competition with five goals.
The gold medal match takes place on Saturday at 8:30pm local time.
Featured Image Credit: Getty
