By Opta Analyst | Created at 2026-07-18 17:28:13 | Updated at 2026-08-02 23:35:02
3 weeks ago
Spain will face France for a place in the World Cup final on Tuesday, after Mikel Merino provided the heroics once again to down Belgium.
Mikel Merino was the hero once again for Spain as his 88th-minute goal clinched a 2-1 victory over Belgium in Los Angeles and booked their ticket to the World Cup semi-finals.
Fabián Ruiz put Luis de la Fuente’s side in front after half an hour, having been promoted to the starting lineup in place of Pedri, though Charles De Ketelaere became the first player to score against Spain at this tournament late in the first half.
It looked as though extra time would be required as Belgium produced a resolute defensive performance, but an injury to Thibaut Courtois in the second half proved costly.
Manchester United’s Senne Lammens replaced Courtois and was at fault for the decisive goal, spilling Pau Cubarsí‘s drive at the feet of the grateful Merino, who made no mistake to ensure Spain will face France in a semi-final showdown on Tuesday.
Belgium suffered a blow even before kick-off as captain Youri Tielemans was injured in the warm-up, with the returning Kevin De Bruyne taking the armband.
Rudi Garcia’s team defended well early on, but their resistance was broken by Fabián, who finished on the follow-up – via a deflection off Timothy Castagne – after Courtois made a strong save to deny Dani Olmo.
Having been involved in the build-up to that goal, Lamine Yamal then started to come to the fore, working Courtois from a dangerous free-kick and curling another attempt wide of the near post.
But De Ketelaere struck against the run of play four minutes before half-time, getting across Cubarsí to nod Castagne’s right-wing beyond Unai Simón.
Maxim De Cuyper lashed into the side netting as Belgium’s confidence continued to grow at the start of the second half, but they received another setback when Courtois – having denied Mikel Oyarzabal at his near post – sustained an apparent thigh injury and went off in tears.
And Lammens’ unfortunate moment came with stoppage time looming, as Cubarsí’s 20-yard drive proved too hot to handle and Spain substitute Merino fired into the roof of the net.
Merino Reprises Super-Sub Role
There have only been two examples of a Spain player scoring the winning goal in a World Cup knockout-stage match after coming on as a substitute.
Both have come this week, with Merino coming off the bench to provide the heroics versus Portugal in the round of 16 before repeating the trick here. The Arsenal man is also the first Spain player to score two winning goals in the 80th minute or later in World Cup matches.
Belgium were ultimately left to rue the loss of Courtois to injury, as Lammens became the first goalkeeper other than the Real Madrid man to represent them at a World Cup since Geert De Vlieger against Brazil in 2002, but marked the occasion with a costly error.
Ultimately, Spain will argue they deserved their piece of good fortune, having racked up 17 shots and 2.08 expected goals, compared to Belgium’s five attempts and 0.37 xG.
Belgium did have a few promising moments on the counter-attack, however, after becoming the first team to breach Spain’s defence in a World Cup match since La Roja lost 2-1 to Japan in the 2022 group stage. Their run of six straight clean sheets at the competition was the best-ever by any team, with their defence standing firm for 649 minutes.
Under De la Fuente, Spain have now progressed from all seven of their knockout games at major tournament (World Cup/Euros). The only manager to ever progress from their first eight such ties with a European nation is Vittorio Pozzo, who won his first eight with Italy between 1934 and 1938.
Our Opta match centre delivers you all the Spain vs Belgium stats from their 2026 FIFA World Cup quarter-final meeting at Los Angeles Stadium on 10 July.
The match centre below includes team and player stats, expected goals data, passing networks, an Opta chalkboard and more. It gives you everything you need to do your own match analysis.
Underneath the match centre you can find the official Opta stats on the game as well.
Spain vs Belgium: Post-Match Opta Facts
- Spain have reached the semi-finals of the FIFA World Cup for only the second time after 2010, when they went on to win the tournament in South Africa.
- Excluding the third-place play-off match, Belgium have now been eliminated from each of their last four FIFA World Cup knockout stage ties against fellow UEFA nations, since beating Spain on penalties at the quarter-final stage of the 1986 tournament.
- Spain are the first reigning UEFA European Championship holders to reach the semi-final stage of the FIFA World Cup since La Roja themselves in 2010.
- Spain have set the outright longest unbeaten run in their history, now avoiding defeat in each of their last 36 matches since a 1-0 loss to Colombia in March 2024 (W27 D9).
- There are just two examples of a player scoring the winning goal for Spain in the knockout stages of the FIFA World Cup as a substitute: Mikel Merino vs Portugal in the round of 16, and Mikel Merino vs Belgium today.
- Spain have now had more possession than their opponents in 28 consecutive FIFA World Cup games, twice as long as the next longest run on record (since 1966 – Brazil 14, 1966-1974).
- Spain’s Luis de la Fuente has now managed more games across the FIFA World Cup and UEFA European Championship without ever losing than any other manager (13 – W12 D1).
- Spain’s Rodri has now made 62 line-breaking passes in the final third at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the most in a single edition since Toni Kroos in 2014 (also 62).
- Charles De Ketelaere’s 41st minute equaliser for Belgium ended a run of 649 minutes without conceding a goal at the FIFA World Cup for Spain.
- Charles De Ketelaere has equalled Romelu Lukaku and Jan Ceulemans as Belgium’s top goalscorers in FIFA World Cup knockout stage matches (all 3).
- Fabián Ruiz has been directly involved in five goals across eight career starts for Spain at major tournaments (3 goals, 2 assists – World Cup/EURO).
- Spain’s Lamine Yamal (6) became the first player to make more than five appearances at the FIFA World Cup while aged 18 or younger; Kylian Mbappé is the only player to make more at the tournament as a teenager (7).
- Second half substitute Senne Lammens became the first goalkeeper to play for Belgium at the FIFA World Cup other than Thibaut Courtois since Geert De Vlieger vs Brazil in 2002.
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