Former Arsenal striker Alexandre Lacazette helped hosts France get off to winning start at the Paris 2024 Games
(Image credit: Getty Images)
An eventful first day of the Olympic football tournament that saw a new ‘spygate’ incident, a chaotic end to Argentina and Morocco’s opening match ended with a familiar face scoring as hosts France cruised to victory against the USA.
The men’s Olympic tournament will run until August 9 when the gold medals will be dished out in Paris and is an under-23s competition, which has led to plenty of fans on social media wondering what former Arsenal striker Alexandre Lacazette is doing there after he netted the first goal in France’s 3-0 victory in Marseille.
Lacazette, who left Arsenal in 2022 for Lyon, has scored 46 goals for the Ligue 1 side over the past two seasons, showing that at 33 years old, he still has an eye for goal.
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But it’s his age that had confused fans on social media, as they rushed to ask why the forward was allowed to feature in an under-23s competition.
“France is straight up killing USA in soccer! How is Lacazette even playing tho? I thought that soccer was U23 in the Olympics,” asked one fan on X.
“France sending Lacazette to the Olympics and not the Euros should be illegal,” posted another supporter, while the infamous clip of Michael Owen celebrating after blasting the ball past a 13-year-old goalkeeper was also spotted on the social network.
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33-year-old Lacazette scoring at the Olympics https://t.co/uaLStKAf7R pic.twitter.com/GMpM7xCviRJuly 24, 2024
The reason for Lacazette’s inclusion is a simple one. Each nation in the competition is permitted to select three overage players, with Lacazette one of France boss Thiery Henry’s choices, alongside Jean-Philippe Mateta and Loic Bade.
It was Lacazette who opened the scoring for his country in the 61st minute against the USA, with new Bayern Munich signing Michael Olise soon adding a second before Bade made it three.
France won 3-0 (Image credit: Getty Images)
Hosts France are one of the favourites to land the gold medal on home soil and will face Guinea on Saturday in their second group game before meeting New Zealand next week.
Veteran striker Lacazette is looking to win his first piece of silverware since winning the FA Cup with Arsenal in 2020 and should France triumph, it would be his first major international honour.
For more than a decade Joe Mewis has worked in football journalism as a reporter and editor, with stints at Mirror Football and LeedsLive among others. He is the author of four football history books that include times on Leeds United and the England national team.
