Spain stuns Portugal in the 90th minute to reach quarters: Merino the hero; Cristiano says goodbye

THROUGH TO THE QUARTERS, mate! 🇪🇸 Spain knocked out Portugal (1-0) in the dying moments and sneaked into the last eight of the World Cup. Just when the match was crying out for extra time, up popped Mikel Merino — who else — to send Dallas and all of Spain absolutely mental. A cracking game, the good kind of suffering, and a Spanish side that keeps getting better.

The match. It was billed as a title decider and it delivered. Portugal came out to match La Roja head-to-head and nearly pulled it off (Nuno Mendes' left-footed strike hit the crossbar, Porro nearly turned it in — had us all on edge). But gradually, with Rodri controlling the tempo like an angel — MVP of the match, naturally — Spain took over possession and the pitch.

Merino, the hero once again. Oyarzabal missed a sitter and, just as everything pointed to extra time, De la Fuente made his move from the bench. And there was the hallmark of champions: Ferran Torres, also coming off the bench, served up a golden assist and Mikel Merino buried it in the corner at 90+. The same Merino who was the hero at Euro against Germany. "The big players are the ones who come off the bench," the manager said. Pure dressing room gold.

Cristiano takes his bow, Lamine takes over. Beyond the result, the match had a whiff of history about it: Cristiano Ronaldo (41) played his final World Cup and left in tears. On the other end, Lamine Yamal (18) put on another masterclass. Football turning the page in real time: first Haaland sent Neymar packing, now Lamine says goodbye to Cristiano. One era closes, another begins.

What's next: the quarters. Spain face the quarter-finals on Friday 10 July at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, against the winner of USA-Belgium. We're still dreaming, and louder than ever.

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