Skip to main content

World Cup LIVE: Merino the hero again as Spain edge Belgium to set up semi-final with France

Updated
Spain's Mikel Merino celebrates scoring their second goal against Belgium
Spain's Mikel Merino celebrates scoring their second goal against BelgiumReuters / Kai Pfaffenbach

The quarter-final action continues today at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, as Spain and Belgium go head-to-head for a spot in the last four. As always, follow the build-up as well as all the key moments from the match with our live blog!

Today's match:

Spain 2-1 Belgium (FT)

Live updates:

13:10 CET - Follow all of Saturday's action here as England take on Norway and Argentina face Switzerland!

23:30 CET - That's all from the World Cup for today and an earlier finish than we are used to. But don't worry, the quarter-finals continue tomorrow with a double-header to close out the stage as England take on Norway from 23:00 CET before Argentina face Switzerland at 03:00 CET.

Join us tomorrow afternoon for the build-up towards those matches in our new daily tracker!

23:20 CET - Mikel Merino was the hero of the night for Spain, but Flashscore's Man of the Match was centre-back Pau Cubarsi, who notched a game-high player rating of 8.4 thanks largely to his 89 per cent pass success rate, two key passes, and four successful duels. The 19-year-old put in yet another impressive display!

Read more about Flashscore player ratings here.

Cubarsi was our Man of the Match
Cubarsi was our Man of the MatchFlashscore

22:59 CET - That's full-time, and Spain have beaten Belgium 2-1 to set up a semi-final with France on Tuesday!

You have to say, the best team won on the night, but Belgium sure made it difficult for the Spanish, battling back to draw level and end La Roja's incredible clean sheet run, which extended back to the 2022 World Cup.

Match momentum
Match momentumOpta by StatsPerform

Then, with time running out and extra time looming, Mikel Merino once again popped up with a late winner to send Spain into just their second ever final-four appearance.

The last time Spain reached a knockout semi-final was in 2010, when they won the World Cup for the first time... Read into that what you will. All we know for sure is that the first semi-final will be an absolute blockbuster!

Read our full match report here.

Key match stats
Key match statsFlashscore

22:50 CET - GOAL! There is time for a hero, and it's Mikel Merino again as Spain go 2-1 up at the death.

Pau Cubarsi first fired in from range and then Senne Lammens, who only recently came on as a substitute, spilt his shot right into the stride of the incoming Merino, who put it away, and put the result away too, perhaps.

It was a terrible error from Lammens; you have to feel for him.

Spain's Mikel Merino scores their second goal
Spain's Mikel Merino scores their second goalReuters / Kai Pfaffenbach

22:45 CET - Heading into the last few minutes of the regular time now, and it's still level! Is there time for someone to stand up and be a hero before the whistle? 

Spain's Nico Williams comes on as a substitute to replace Mikel Oyarzabal
Spain's Nico Williams comes on as a substitute to replace Mikel OyarzabalReuters / Carlos Barria

22:33 CET - Well, there's been another change for the Belgians, but this one is forced and a major blow for the Red Devils, with keeper Thibaut Courtois off with an injury. Senne Lammens is on in the veteran's place.

Belgium's Thibaut Courtois receives medical attention after sustaining an injury
Belgium's Thibaut Courtois receives medical attention after sustaining an injuryIMAGN IMAGES via Reuters / Gary Vasquez

22:22 CET - Coming past the hour mark, and the changes are being made by both sides with Pedri and Ferran Torres already on for Spain, and the veterans Romelu Lukaku and Axel Witsel just coming on now for Belgium.

Notably, Lukaku has come on to score in the last three games... Can he do it again?

Lukaku's recent performances
Lukaku's recent performancesFlashscore

22:07 CET - No changes at half-time, and we are back underway! Follow every kick with our live audio commentary via the link above.

21:50 CET - That's half-time at the SoFi Stadium, and it is 1-1 between Spain and Belgium. Credit to the Red Devils; they have been largely outplayed, conceded first, but fought back quickly to end La Roja's incredible run of shutouts at the World Cup. All to play for!

First-half stats
First-half statsOpta by StatsPerform

21:41 CET - GOAL! Belgium are level as Charles De Ketelaere heads in to make it 1-1.

Wow, what a response from the Red Devils, and out of nowhere, really! De Ketelaere buried a close-range header into the left of the goal after a good run and cross by Timothy Castagne.

For the first time at this World Cup, Spain have conceded a goal! And with that, Unai Simon's incredible run of shutouts at the tournament comes to an end. His 609 straight minutes without conceding a goal at World Cups are a record.

De Ketelaere's goal for Belgium
De Ketelaere's goal for BelgiumOpta by StatsPerform (Daniel Cole / Reuters)

21:30 CET - GOAL! Fabian Ruiz puts Spain 1-0 up against Belgium!

Lamine Yamal did the work down the right and cut a cross back to Dani Olmo, who fired in a shot which was saved by Thibaut Courtois, only to break to Fabian, who finished with aplomb... and celebrated in style, too.

Spain's Fabian Ruiz celebrates scoring their first goal
Spain's Fabian Ruiz celebrates scoring their first goalReuters / Hannah Mckay

21:25 CET - Still goalless at the hydration break, and if you're ever going to have one of those, I guess a hot and sunny day in Los Angeles in an open-air stadium is probably the time...

Three shots for the superior Spanish so far to Belgium's one, but nothing from either side to write home about just yet.

Spain's Lamine Yamal reacts
Spain's Lamine Yamal reactsReuters / Hannah Mckay

21:15 CET - The first 15 minutes have gone by without a major chance for either side, and as expected, Spain have dominated the ball with more than two-thirds of possession so far.

One suspects that is how this match will go - Spain will have the ball, while Belgium will look to selectively counter-attack them with the pacy Jeremy Doku a useful outlet on the break.

Belgium have starting the match very deep
Belgium have starting the match very deepOpta by StatsPerform (photo by REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach)

21:01 CET - We are underway at the SoFi Stadium! As always, you can follow every kick of the match with our live audio commentary via the link above or with our major updates here.

Spain players pose for a team group photo before the match
Spain players pose for a team group photo before the matchReuters / Carlos Barria

20:50 CET - There's been a huge blow for Belgium with key midfielder Youri Tielemans injured in the warm-up and out of the match entirely! Here is Belgium's revised starting XI, with Hans Vanaken drafted in:

Belgium's revised starting XI
Belgium's revised starting XIFlashscore

20:30 CET - We are only half an hour from kick-off in the World Cup's second quarter-final between Spain and Belgium at the SoFi Stadium in the greater Los Angeles area. That means we will soon be finding out who will take on the fearsome French unit in the semi-finals on Tuesday!

As always, you can follow every kick of the match with our live audio commentary via the link above or with our major updates here.

Spain fans outside the stadium before the match
Spain fans outside the stadium before the matchIMAGN IMAGES via Reuters / Kiyoshi Mio

19:30 CET - The lineups are in for tonight's game, and there's a huge bit of news, with Spain star Pedri dropping to the bench. The Barcelona man is replaced by Fabian Ruiz in a swap that is seemingly not fitness-related.

Kevin De Bruyne returns to the Belgium starting XI, replacing the injured Amadou Onana, while Jeremy Doku also comes back in for Dodi Lukebakio.

Spain vs Belgium starting XIs
Spain vs Belgium starting XIsFlashscore

18:10 CET - We get loads of interesting exclusive interviews at Flashscore, and this week is no different. Ahead of the upcoming quarter-finals, we have spoken to former players from Norway, Switzerland and England!

Take a read of this week's top exclusives via the links below:

Ramon Vega says Switzerland can beat Argentina but worried about refereeing

Tore Andre Flo on whether Norway can win the World Cup, Haaland & Chelsea

Chris Kirkland hails England's win vs Mexico but says Haaland could 'destroy' them

16:25 CET - We are still a few hours away from today's only match at the World Cup - the quarter-final between Spain and Belgium. Between now and then, get primed for the fixture by reading some of our best pre-game content below:

Unai Simon repaying faith in spades after claiming Spain's No. 1 role

Why Leandro Trossard has been Belgium's star man at the World Cup

Winning probability
Winning probabilityOpta by StatsPerform

14:15 CET - Good afternoon and welcome to our coverage of the second quarter-final at the 2026 World Cup as Luis de la Fuente's Spain take on fellow European heavyweights Belgium at 21:00 CET.

Having seen France seal their spot in the last four with a 2-0 victory over Morocco yesterday, La Roja will be determined to set up a rematch of the EURO 2024 semi-final when they come up against Rudi Garcia's Red Devils at the SoFi Stadium.

With plenty of time until kick-off in California, why not check out our video preview below:

Spain vs Belgium (video preview)
Flashscore

In case you missed any of it, catch up on last night at the World Cup here.