2026 WC: Merino sends Spain into World Cup semi-finals at expense of Belgium

Mikel Merino came off the bench for the second straight match to fire Spain to victory with his late winner sinking brave Belgium 2-1 in an engrossing World Cup quarter-final battle in Los Angeles.

After striking late in a 1-0 win over Portugal in the last 16, Merino repeated the dose when he walloped the ball into the net on 88 minutes after goalkeeper Senne Lammens, who had replaced the injured Thibaut Courtois on 71 minutes, spilled a long-range strike by Pau Cubarsi.

The European champions were deserving winners before a sell-out crowd in Los Angeles, but were made to work for their triumph after Charles De Ketelaere headed the equaliser on 41 minutes to cancel out Fabian Ruiz's opener on the half-hour mark.

But it should also be noted that Belgium were hampered by huge moments of bad luck due to injury.

After Amadou Onana was ruled out with an anterior cruciate ligament injury suffered in the 4-1 win over the USA in the last 16, Youri Tielemans was withdrawn before kick-off due to fitness issues.

A crestfallen Courtois was then forced off injured, with captain Kevin De Bruyne also replaced in the second half due to cramp.

Their equaliser was a thing of beauty as Timothy Castagne threw over a lovely cross for De Ketelaere to net the first goal against Spain at these finals.

Fabian Ruiz had pounced for the opener after Courtois could not hold a Dani Olmo effort on a day when Luis de la Fuente's side extended their unbeaten run to a remarkable 36 matches.

Spain will face tournament favourites France in Dallas on Tuesday, arguably the ultimate test in international football, after Les Blues eased to a 2-0 victory against Morocco in the first quarter-final on Thursday.