Spain advanced to the quarterfinals after beating Portugal 1-0 and eliminating Portugal in Cristiano Ronaldo’s last World Cup, in a close duel played on Monday at the Dallas Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
The lone winning goal came in stoppage time with a shot from a recently introduced Mikel Merino (90+1).
Like the most recent precedents between both neighbors, it was an even round of 16 match, back and forth, with the flavor of an early final, which had on the field the youthful talent of Lamine Yamal and the scoring experience of the Portuguese star.
The Commander, whose eyes watered at the end of the meeting, gave his all, just as he promised the day before.
He had a clear chance after a pass from Bruno Fernandes and tried to catch a rebound from a bicycle kick.
He decongested the mark by going down to look for balls and let his teammates play weapons, with outstanding performances from men like Manchester United midfielder Buno Fernandes and João Felix.
The latter tried the offensive connection with Fernandes, Vitinha and João Neves, although these last two, teammates in PSG, had a gray game, as in the rest of the tournament.
Goalkeeper Diogo Costa supported Portugal until the last moment, with a double save from shots by Yamal and Álex Baena.
The defense was also successful, anticipating the attack, until they conceded the only goal against them.
For Spain, Lamine Yamal was dangerous, he provided imbalance on his wing and supported the defense when balls were lost.
La Roja maintained a stable rhythm in its arrivals. Baena and Dani Olmo participated constantly and Pedri managed to arrive from the second line, guaranteeing possession of the ball.
Their goalkeeper Unai Simón also shone on several occasions, including a dangerous arrival by João Félix, although he kept a clean sheet for the fifth consecutive game in the World Cup.
Now La Roja will face the winner of the United States-Belgium this Monday in Seattle in the next phase.
Lineups:
Portugal:
Diogo Costa – Joao Cancelo (Diogo Dalot 71), Rúben Dias, Renato Veiga, Nuno Mendes (Nélson Semedo 56) – Pedro Neto (Francisco Chico Conceicao 83), Joao Pedro Goncalves Neves – Bruno Fernandes, Vítor Ferreira (Bernardo Silva 83), João Félix (Rafael Leão 71) – Cristiano Ronaldo (cap).
DT: Roberto Martínez.
Spain:
Unai Simón – Pedro Porro, Pau Cubarsí, Aymeric Laporte, Marc Cucurella – Lamine Yamal, Pedri (Fabián Ruiz 85) – Dani Olmo (Mikel Merino 85), Rodri (cap), Álex Baena (Ferran Torres 75) – Mikel Oyarzabal (Borja Iglesias 90+7).
DT: Luis de la Fuente.
