Spain secured their precious passage to the World Cup quarter-finals with a late 1-0 victory over Portugal, the decisive moment coming from star midfielder Mikel Merino, who stepped up as the hero and stole the winner in the 1st minute of stoppage time (90+1) at Dallas stadium on Monday. With this hard-fought victory, La Roja continue their World Cup journey successfully, awaiting a stern test in the next round against the winner of the anticipated clash between the United States and Belgium.
The excitement ignited early in the 3rd minute with a shot from Spain's Mikel Oyarzabal, which the Portuguese goalkeeper brilliantly tipped away to save his net from a near-certain goal. Portugal's response was not long in coming, through a rocket shot from João Cancelo that flew just over the Spanish crossbar, before Oyarzabal returned in the 8th minute to squander the most dangerous chance of the half, having exploited a defensive lapse to find himself completely one-on-one with the goalkeeper, only to fire strangely wide of the post.
Around the half-hour mark, Ronaldo woke up and directed a powerful shot from very close range, but the Spanish goalkeeper defended his goal bravely and turned it into a corner. Meanwhile, Lamine Yamal penetrated into Portugal's territory and struck a deceptive ball that the Portuguese goalkeeper pushed away twice with a miraculous save. Spain's attacking pressure continued, with the Portuguese defence and goalkeeper bearing the brunt of repelling more than one Spanish attempt.
In the final five minutes, Portugal launched an attack and Ronaldo nearly snatched the precious opening goal, had it not been for goalkeeper Unai Simón, who rose to the occasion with a superb save. The crossbar also came to the Spanish goalkeeper's rescue in denying a powerful shot from Nuno Mendes. The additional stoppage-time minutes passed without incident, and the first half ended in a goalless draw.
In the second half, both teams continued their search for the goal. João Cancelo fired wide of the target in Portugal's first initiative, while Nuno Mendes stood firm to block Lamine Yamal's attempt to cut into Portugal's area.
Portugal suffered a painful blow by the 55th minute when Nuno Mendes was forced off injured, replaced by Nélson Semedo. Lamine Yamal then committed a Spanish foul, with the resulting powerful shot pushed away by goalkeeper Costa into a corner that came to nothing. In response, Bruno struck the ball into the outside of the Spanish net, wasting a precious opportunity for Portugal.
In the 1st minute of stoppage time (90+1), just as everyone was bracing for extra time, Mikel Merino latched onto a clever pass from Ferran Torres and faced the goal to score the most valuable goal in the Spanish squad's history, sending La Roja into the quarter-finals of the world tournament.