Pep Guardiola the last Spain captain to win Olympic gold

Villarreal’s Baena and Barcelona’s Lopez will be targeting a summer double to remember, with Spain aiming to emulate the men’s team from 1992, who won gold on home soil in Barcelona 32 years ago and were captained by now Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola.

“Pep was a very good player and his are very important steps that we need to follow,” said captain Abel Ruiz, one of Spain’s permitted three players over 23.

“We will do our best to go out and win the tournament. We know that we didn’t have the gold medal for a long time, so obviously we come here with the objective to win, and we are focused on that.”

Since winning gold at Barcelona 1992, Spain have gone on to win two silver medals at the Olympics, at Sydney 2000 and Tokyo 2020.

Three years ago, Mikel Oyarzabal was among the Spain stars who finished runners-up to champions Brazil.

Oyarzabal scored in that final, which Spain lost 2-1 after extra-time, and he was also on target in the recent UEFA EURO 2024 final against England, scoring the winning goal.

At Paris 2024, Barcelona’s 21-year-old Lopez could be among the standout players in the men’s football tournament.