Spain 1-0 Portugal: Merino's Late Winner Ends Ronaldo's World Cup

Spain beat Portugal 1-0 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on Monday 6 July 2026 to reach the World Cup 2026 quarter-finals. The only goal came deep into stoppage time: substitute Mikel Merino swept in a Ferran Torres pass at 90+1 to break a goalless Iberian derby. It was Spain’s sixth clean sheet in a row — a new World Cup record — and it ended Portugal’s tournament in what was widely reported as Cristiano Ronaldo’s last World Cup. Here’s how the game was won, what it means, and who Spain face next.

Who won Spain vs Portugal?

Spain won 1-0. The match was locked at 0-0 and heading for extra time when Mikel Merino, on as a substitute, met a pass from fellow replacement Ferran Torres and beat Diogo Costa in the first minute of stoppage time. There were no red cards. Portugal came agonisingly close to forcing extra time when Bernardo Silva rattled the bar at 90+6, but Spain held on to seal a place in the last eight.

It was a fittingly tight result in a fixture that rarely follows the script. Spain controlled the ball and the tempo, Portugal defended deep and threatened on the break, and in the end a single moment off the bench separated the Iberian neighbours.

How Spain broke Portugal down

Spain did what they have done all tournament: they kept the ball, squeezed the game high up the pitch and waited for the opening. For 90 minutes Roberto Martínez’s Portugal held firm, defending deep and looking to spring Rafael Leão and Pedro Neto on the counter, with Bruno Fernandes supplying the moments of quality. But the longer the game stayed goalless, the more it suited Spain’s patience.

The decisive intervention came from the bench. Luis de la Fuente’s substitutes changed the game: Ferran Torres slid a pass across for Mikel Merino, who arrived to finish in the first minute of added time. Merino — a midfielder, not a striker — has a habit of scoring big knockout goals, and this was another. It was the kind of late, low-drama winner that has defined Spain’s run: not a flood of goals, but enough, backed by a defence nobody has been able to breach.

That defence is now the story of the tournament. Spain have kept a clean sheet in every knockout game and set a new World Cup record with a sixth in succession, with goalkeeper Unai Simón stretching his unbeaten run past 600 minutes. Portugal’s best chance to level came six minutes into stoppage time, when Bernardo Silva struck the crossbar — the closest anyone has come to solving the Spanish rearguard.

What the result means for Spain and Portugal

For Spain, this is a landmark. They are into their first World Cup quarter-final since 2010 — the year they won the whole thing, beating this same Portugal 1-0 in the last 16 on the way. A defence that has not conceded all tournament, a deep squad that can win games from the bench, and Lamine Yamal growing into the competition all point to a genuine contender.

For Portugal, it is the end of the road, and the end of an era. The 0-0 they could not turn into a goal leaves them out at the round-of-16 stage, and at 41 this was widely reported as Cristiano Ronaldo’s final World Cup — one last tournament that ended without the winner’s medal that always eluded him on this stage. Roberto Martínez’s side had talent across the pitch but, as against Croatia in the previous round, could not find the killer moment when it mattered.

Who do Spain play next in the World Cup quarter-finals?

Spain advance to a quarter-final against Belgium on Friday 10 July at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. Belgium booked their place with a commanding 4-1 win over co-hosts the USA in the round of 16 — see our recap of USA vs Belgium for how Charles De Ketelaere and Romelu Lukaku sent the hosts home.

It sets up a heavyweight tie: Spain’s record-breaking defence against a Belgium side on an 18-game unbeaten run. For the rest of the bracket, see our World Cup 2026 quarter-final schedule and knockout guide .

Spain vs Portugal head-to-head record

This was only the third time Spain and Portugal have met at a World Cup, and Spain have now won two of the three. The parallels with 2010 were hard to miss: another 1-0 Spanish win in the round of 16, once again by the odd goal in a tight game. Their 2018 group-stage meeting produced a 3-3 classic settled by a Ronaldo hat-trick, and in 2025 Portugal beat Spain on penalties in the Nations League final after a 2-2 draw.

The two are near-inseparable historically. The Iberian derby dates back over a century — they first met in 1921 — and the neighbours have now faced off more than 40 times.

The takeaways

Spain go through without ever being at their free-scoring best, and that is precisely the point: they have found a way to win tight knockout games while conceding nothing. Merino’s goal off the bench underlined the strength in depth de la Fuente can call on, and Yamal, at 18, now has a quarter-final stage to grow into.

Portugal leave with regrets — a game they defended well but could not win, and the sense of a golden generation that peaked in the Nations League rather than at a World Cup. If this was indeed Ronaldo’s last World Cup, it closed with the veteran unable to find one final decisive moment against the meanest defence in the tournament.

As always, this is a match recap — for the full picture of the last eight, follow our World Cup 2026 knockout guide .