{"id":363451,"date":"2026-07-07T02:22:24","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T02:22:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/363451\/"},"modified":"2026-07-07T02:22:24","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T02:22:24","slug":"substitute-merino-hits-late-winner-as-spain-end-ronaldos-world-cup-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/363451\/","title":{"rendered":"Substitute Merino hits late winner as Spain end Ronaldo’s World Cup career"},"content":{"rendered":"

Spain’s Mikel Merino (6) in action to score during the World Cup round of 16 soccer match between Portugal and Spain in Arlington, Texas, near Dallas, July 6, 2026. (PHOTO \/ AP)<\/p>\n

ARLINGTON, Texas – Spain substitute Mikel Merino broke through a stubborn Portugal defense in the 91st minute to earn his side a 1-0 win on Monday to \u200btake the former champions into the quarterfinals and bring the curtain down on Cristiano Ronaldo’s World Cup career.<\/p>\n

The midfielder scored six \u200cminutes after coming off the bench in the Iberian Derby at Dallas Stadium to move the European champions into the last eight, prevailing where his teammates had been frustrated by a determined Portuguese backline.<\/p>\n

“Mikel Merino never lets us down, he’s a safe bet,” said Spain coach Luis de la Fuente. “He helped us win the European Championship and \u200bis always there when it counts. He’s one of the best players in the world in his position.<\/p>\n

“Mikel performs exceptionally well and is \u200balways exactly where he needs to be.”<\/p>\n

Portugal goalkeeper Diogo Costa (1) punches the ball past Spain’s Aymeric Laporte (14) during the World Cup round of 16 soccer match between Portugal and Spain in Arlington, Texas, near Dallas, July 6, 2026. (PHOTO \/ AP)<\/p>\n

Spain needed the quick-thinking Merino to unlock a Portugal defense that had frustrated \u2060de la Fuente’s side throughout a second half dominated by the 2010 title winners.<\/p>\n

Introduced from the bench for Dani Olmo, it was Merino who \u200bstarted and finished the move that clinched victory for Spain, who will face either Belgium or the United States, who meet later on Monday, in \u200bthe quarterfinals on Friday.<\/p>\n

ALSO READ: Haaland double as Norway stun Brazil to reach World Cup quarterfinals<\/a><\/p>\n

Having rolled a quickly-taken free kick to his left, Merino drifted into space on the fringe of the penalty area, where fellow substitute Ferran Torres found his unmarked team mate in the perfect position to strike into the bottom corner.<\/p>\n

The outcome left Ronaldo crestfallen, the forward leaving the field to sympathetic cheers from the sold-out \u200bcrowd as Portugal exited a day after the former Real Madrid forward had confirmed the tournament would be his last World Cup.<\/p>\n

Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo (7) shoots a goal as Spain’s Pau Cubarsi (22) defends during the World Cup round of 16 soccer match between Portugal and Spain in Arlington, Texas, near Dallas, July 6, 2026. (PHOTO \/ AP)<\/p>\n

Early attacking intent<\/p>\n

The \u200bSpaniards progressed after both teams had shown their attacking intent early, Spain’s Mikel Oyarzabal testing goalkeeper Diogo Costa from distance and Portugal’s Joao Cancelo lashing his rising shot \u200cover the \u2060crossbar.<\/p>\n

Oyarzabal should have put his side ahead after eight minutes when a slick move sliced through the Portuguese midfield with Olmo’s incisive first-time pass releasing the Real Sociedad man who dragged his shot wide of Costa’s left post.<\/p>\n

Bruno Fernandes then dispossessed Pedri to set up Ronaldo soon after, but keeper Unai Simon blocked the effort with ease.<\/p>\n

Spain’s Lamine Yamal (19) jumps over Portugal’s Joao Felix (11) during the World Cup round of 16 soccer match between Portugal and Spain in Arlington, Texas, near Dallas, July 6, 2026. (PHOTO \/ AP)<\/p>\n

Portugal’s Costa was then called on to make two saves in quick succession, denying Lamine Yamal from the right and, \u200bmore spectacularly, Alex Baena’s follow-up with a \u200bfull-stretch, fingertip effort.<\/p>\n

Spain’s Simon saved \u2060Joao Felix’s header before pushing away Ronaldo’s volley on the rebound, while Nuno Mendes went closest with a shot that was redirected onto the bar by Spanish defender Pedro Porro’s header as Portugal finished the half on top.<\/p>\n

Roberto \u200bMartinez’s side were reduced to playing on the counter after the interval, with Spain dominating possession.<\/p>\n

Lamine’s free kick \u200bwas tipped over \u2060by Costa while Portuguese midfielder Vitinha’s strike was deflected into the path of Fernandes but he shot into the side-netting.<\/p>\n

Spain’s Ferr\u00e1n Torres (top) controls the ball against Portugal’s Ruben Dias during the World Cup round of 16 soccer match between Portugal and Spain in Arlington, Texas, near Dallas, July 6, 2026. (PHOTO \/ AP)<\/p>\n

Merino, however, stepped up to prevent the game going to extra-time, although Portugal substitute Bernardo Silva almost equalized in the 97th, frustratingly heading over the bar.<\/p>\n

“We came here with a very clear objective of \u2060what we wanted \u200bto achieve, which was to win the World Cup, but unfortunately we didn’t perform \u200bat our best,” said Fernandes.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Ten-man England hang on to beat battling Mexico 3-2 in last-16 thriller<\/a><\/p>\n

“Obviously, Spain deserve credit. They have quality and great players, but I think that, based on what we did in the first half, if we’d carried on \u200blike that, we would have come away with a different result.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Spain’s Mikel Merino (6) in action to score during the World Cup round of 16 soccer match between…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":363452,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[150,152,151,39302,300,128874,731,9611,3692],"class_list":["post-363451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arlington","tag-arlington","tag-arlington-headlines","tag-arlington-news","tag-cristiano-ronaldo","tag-football","tag-portgual","tag-soccer","tag-spain","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=363451"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363451\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/363452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=363451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=363451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=363451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}