By Razeen Gutta
Mikel Merino came off the bench to break Belgian hearts and send Spain into the Fifa World Cup semi-finals with an 88th-minute winner in a dramatic 2-1 victory at SoFi Stadium on Friday.
The Arsenal midfielder pounced after substitute goalkeeper Senne Lammens spilled Pau Cubarsi’s low drive, smashing home his second late winner in four days.
The win sets up a blockbuster last-four clash with Kylian Mbappe and France in Dallas on Tuesday.
Spain dominated early. Fabian Ruiz opened the scoring on 30 minutes after Thibaut Courtois could only parry a Dani Olmo shot from Pedro Porro and Lamine Yamal’s clever one-two.
The European champions pinged the ball around at will, with Yamal a constant threat and Ruiz, in for Pedri, pulling the strings with Rodri.
But Belgium, already without Amadou Onana and losing captain Youri Tielemans to a warm-up hamstring injury, hit back.
Kevin De Bruyne threaded a ball to Timothy Castagne and Charles De Ketelaere outmuscled Cubarsi to head in on 41 minutes. It was the first goal Spain had conceded all tournament.
The second half opened up. Rudi Garcia threw on Romelu Lukaku, while Spain saw a penalty shout waved away and Oyarzabal denied by Courtois. The Belgian keeper then limped off in tears on 70 minutes, forcing a World Cup debut for 24-year-old Lammens.
It ended in disaster for him. Merino’s late strike sealed it and a last-gasp Alexis Saelemaekers cross just evaded Lukaku.
For Spain, there was jubilation, for Belgium’s aging golden generation, disbelief.
The quarter conclude on Saturday night with England facing Norway before Argentina take on Switzerland.
Pictured above: Mikel Merino
Source: @fifaworldcup
