Photo by RFEF. Oyarzabal competes with Portugal in football.
I have Mikel Merino who is 91St winner in the minute, Spain sneaked through the door in the Round of 16 just before being beaten by Portugal in extra time. Dive into midfield at the right time to make manager Luis de la Fuente look like a genius by fielding not only the Basque midfielder, but also his provider Ferran Torres. Not since 1950 have Portugal or Spain beaten the other by more than one goal in a competitive match, and whether de la Fuente’s side knew that run or not, perhaps those narrow margins were part of their game plan.
If you scroll through the archives of this little encounter, you will see more breaks from Spain, more chances, more shots, and you may remember a more exciting first half, before the slow rhythm set in. Sometimes the ‘deserving’ referee can be deceiving, but Spain’s 1.78 doesn’t match the total number of expected and unexpected goals that have been thrown into the Portuguese box.
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¡Viva San Fermín y viva @mikelmerino1!! #VamosEspaña | #CopaMundialFIFA pic.twitter.com/5yl38qb5K3
— Selección Española Masculina de Fútbol (@SEFutbol) July 6, 2026
Once again, if there is one thing that stands out about Spain’s performance, it is the lack of risk. A deflected effort from Nuno Mendes, and a late header from Bernardo Silva, however, gave the Spanish fans few chances to worry. Portugal troubled La Roja more than any of their previous four opponents, but the truth is, they couldn’t have done less. 0.58 expected goals scored by Cristiano Ronaldo and others. it didn’t reach the 0.78 left for Spain against Austria, Uruguay, Saudi Arabia and Cape Verde combined, and La Roja now have five clean sheets in a row as well.
There is no doubt that for the third time in five games however, Spain also felt unsatisfied going forward. At times, they are conservative, at others, they are unarmed. Even though Dani Olmo’s emergence from the Portuguese midfield was perhaps the best in Spain’s attack, La Roja ignored many passes in the same area. Reluctant to play the first pass they saw, Spain were considered to be generous with every pass they hit in the middle. Timid would be another word.
“Anyone who thinks we will win without suffering is wrong,” said Rodri Hernandez after the game, “we showed maturity.” Perhaps that is the biggest difference between this Spanish team and the first system we saw under de la Fuente. Nico Williams’ figure is getting bigger with every passing game, his lack of pace and direction is palpable, unlike Lamine Yamal – he feels like he has to do it all at times. It was the face of a young, passionate football team that was free when it came to shooting and challenging opponents to match them. Against Portugal, Opta says only 36 of 531 passes were ‘long’ (6.8%), and they were long past switches from one side to the other – that figure was 17% in the Euro 2024 final against England.
It was very scary that when the youth team hit good balls in the box, Mikel Oyarzabal, who prides himself on punctuality in the box, was not even late, but not at all. A look at Opta’s passing map shows Oyarzabal deeper than both Lamine Yamal and Alex Baena, level with Olmo – another midfielder. So strange was the Basque’s lack of runs between Portugal’s defenders that the only conclusion was that de la Fuente made him go deep on purpose. His hunt was to be carried out after the conversion, his job was to make sure that the attack on Portugal went ahead.
If the quarter-finals leave us with the last four favorites, then Spain will have a date with France, the team with the biggest arsenal and the worst in the tournament. Realizing that some of their firepower has diminished, it could be argued that Spain’s ‘mature’ approach comes with one eye on the meeting with France. Spain were comfortable against Austria and Saudi Arabia, they were able to show themselves with a clear gap between the sides, but in all other games, they ensured that they controlled the game with few chances. There is a reasonable argument to be made that he could be Spain’s best shot at defeating Didier Deschamps’ seemingly endless arsenal. Or maybe that gives Spain too much credit.
