On a tense Monday evening at the 2026 World Cup, neighboring rivals Spain and Portugal faced off in a knockout round clash that would go down to the final seconds, ultimately ending in heartbreak for Portugal and star forward Cristiano Ronaldo, as a late injury-time goal from Mikel Merino secured a 1-0 win for La Roja.
The match got off to a fast-paced, entertaining start, with both sides trading dangerous opportunities in the opening 10 minutes. Spain’s Mikel Oyarzabal carved out the first clear chance of the game, but his weak effort failed to test Portuguese goalkeeper Diogo Costa. Down the other end, Portugal’s Joao Cancelo looked dangerous cutting in from the right flank, though his strike missed the target. Oyarzabal would get another good look at goal shortly after, but he pushed his shot wide of the post.
In the 12th minute, Ronaldo had Portugal’s first great opening to break the deadlock, but Spain keeper Unai Simon made a sharp save to push the effort out for a corner, keeping the scores level. Four minutes later, 16-year-old prodigy Lamine Yamal tested Costa, who managed to parry Yamal’s initial shot but left a loose rebound in the box. The Portuguese shot-stopper would recover quickly, though, pulling off a second reflex save to deny Alex Baena’s follow-up effort.
Spain continued to control possession and create half-chances for the rest of the first half, but failed to find the final touch to put one in the back of the net. In the 42nd minute, it was Portugal who came closest to breaking the deadlock: Nuno Mendes fired a powerful goal-bound strike that was deflected onto the crossbar by Spain’s Pedro Porro, sparing La Roja from going into halftime a goal down.
The second half saw a sharp drop in tempo, with both sides sitting deeper and hesitant to concede a decisive goal. Chances were few and far between for the opening 25 minutes of the half, until Pedri crafted a clear goalscoring opportunity for Spain, only for Costa to tip his effort around the post for a corner. Minutes later, Baena was gifted a golden opportunity after a sloppy turnover from the Portuguese defense, but the Spanish midfielder produced a tame shot straight at Costa, who collected it easily.
With 90 minutes completed and six minutes of stoppage time added on, it looked like the sides were headed for extra time. But just into the added period, substitute Mikel Merino latched onto a perfectly placed cross from fellow substitute Ferran Torres, and slotted the ball past Costa to put Spain up 1-0. Portugal threw everything forward in the final minutes of stoppage time searching for an equalizer, and came within inches of leveling the score in the dying seconds, when Bernardo Silva got his head on a cross just over the crossbar.
The final whistle blew moments later, confirming Spain’s place in the World Cup quarterfinals and ending Portugal’s campaign, as well as what may be the final World Cup appearance for five-time Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo. Spain will now face the winner of the knockout round match between Belgium and tournament co-hosts the United States in the next round of the competition.