Mikel Merino did not expect to be at this World Cup. Four months ago he was nursing a stress fracture in his foot so unusual that even specialists had not seen it before. Yet here he is, coming off the bench for the second successive knockout game to score the decisive goal, this time a 2-1 quarter-final win over Belgium that sends Spain into the semi-finals for only the second time since 2010.
"The fact of being here a few months ago was unthinkable," Merino said after the Portugal round-of-16 win, where he also scored in stoppage time. "Now I remember all those bad moments, all the people who have supported me, all the people who have pushed me when even I sometimes found it difficult to believe I could be here."
“Mikel Merino's late winner sends Spain into World Cup semi-finals against France.”
The Arsenal midfielder, 30, pounced in the 88th minute after a mistake by Belgium goalkeeper Lammens, witnessed by his two-month-old son Marco. Spain boss Luis de la Fuente, not a man for hyperbole, later said: "Mikel is incredible. He has many qualities. For us he is the standard of this idea, of this model." Merino, however, revealed the coach's instructions were minimal: "He told me very little. He told me it's something about being a number 10. And then when the match ended, he told me I was incredible."
Merino's heroics save Spain's blushes again. Against a resilient Belgium, the European champions were far from their best. Lamine Yamal, the 18-year-old star who turns 19 on Monday, admitted: "We didn't play very well but hey, we were right there with them and we held up well. I think if we had kept the ball a bit better, we would have created a lot more and been more dangerous."
Yamal, by contrast to Kylian Mbappe, is yet to fully fire at this World Cup despite flashes of magic. That sets up a mouthwatering semi-final on Tuesday in Dallas at the 90,000-seater air-conditioned stadium. France are the bookmakers' favourites given their firepower and Mbappe's electrifying form. "For me, they are the two best national teams in the World Cup, but we have no fear," Yamal added. "I think if anyone can go into a match against France with confidence, it's us."
The winner will be near-certain favourites for the final on 19 July. Spain, who last reached this stage in 2010 and went on to lift the trophy, will need to step up their performance level. But they have something others lack: a super sub who keeps delivering when it matters most.