![\"Mikel](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/09e95448-d5e9-488f-be89-d497dc1d3b12.jpg.webp\")
Image source, Getty Images<\/p>\nSubstitute Merino scores late winner as Spain knock out Portugalpublished at 10:40 BST<\/p>\n
10:40 BST<\/p>\n
Portugal 0-1 Spain<\/p>\n
Adwaidh Rajan
BBC Sport<\/p>\n
Image source, Getty Images<\/p>\n
Mikel Merino came off the bench to score an injury-time winner for Spain as they knocked Portugal – and Cristiano Ronaldo – out of the World Cup in a heavyweight last-16 tie in Dallas.<\/p>\n
Spain had failed to create clear-cut openings in a poor second half before Ferran Torres played in the Arsenal midfielder, who slotted low past goalkeeper Diogo Costa in the 91st minute.<\/p>\n
The 1-0 result was a repeat of their meeting at the same stage in 2010 and sets up a quarter-final tie with either co-hosts United States or Belgium in Los Angeles on Friday, 10 July (20:00 BST).<\/p>\n
Portugal’s defeat also ends 41-year-old Ronaldo’s World Cup career after the superstar confirmed this tournament would be his last.<\/p>\n
Spain squandered a gilt-edged chance after just three minutes as Dani Olmo’s pass helped Mikel Oyarzabal get behind the defence, but the Real Sociedad striker dragged his effort wide.<\/p>\n
Costa then produced a double save to deny Spanish duo Lamine Yamal and Alex Baena in quick succession as La Roja probed for an opener, but it was Portugal who went closest next.<\/p>\n
Spain were saved by the woodwork in the 41st minute as Nuno Mendes’ venomous left-foot strike took a deflection off Pedro Porro and rattled the crossbar. However, the game remained goalless at the break.<\/p>\n
Roberto Martinez’s side continued to grow into the game after the break, though Ronaldo cut a frustrated figure up front in a second half that produced little in the way of action in the final third.<\/p>\n
Bruno Fernandes hit the side-netting in the 76th minute, while at the other end Olmo’s shot from inside the box was blocked by a brave Ruben Dias before the two Spain substitutes combined to produce the match-winning moment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Substitute Merino scores late winner as Spain knock out Portugalpublished at 10:40 BST 10:40 BST Portugal 0-1 Spain…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":785919,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":["post-785918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=785918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785918\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/785919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=785918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=785918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=785918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}