The semi-final seemed to be heading to penalties before Asensio received the ball inside the box and curled home the winner into the top corner with his left foot to break Japanese hearts.
Marco Asensio came off the bench to dump the hosts Japan out of the Olympics and sealed Spain’s place in the final against Brazil.
Japan had the best chance of the second half when Daichi Hayashi fierce his shot that flew just wide of the far post of the edge of the box before penalty given to Spain was overturned.
Mikel Merino was fouled in the box and spot kick was given but the referee changed his decision after rechecking through the pitch-side monitor, with Maya Yoshida deemed to have got the ball.
Rafa Mir, Spain’s hat-trick hero from the previous round had the best chance in the closing minutes of the game but denied by the feet of Kosei Tani from close-range shot.
At the other semi-finla game, Brazil booked their place in the Olympics football final match after beating Mexico 4-1 on penalties after the game finished 0-0 after extra time of play.
At 28 minutes The Seleção thought they had been given the perfect opportunity to take the lead when Douglas Luiz was fouled in the box but the referee overturned his original decision after being referred to VAR.
The captain of the team, Dani Alves scored the opening penalty, just beating Guillermo Ochoa before Santos denied Eduardo Aguirre.
Gabriel Martinell, Bruno Guimaraes and Reinier scored Brazil next three penalties to seal their spot in Saturday’s final.
Today NG
