Spain needed almost the whole match to break down Portugal, and got there at the very end. Mikel Merino, on as a substitute, scored deep in stoppage time to settle a tense round-of-16 tie 1-0 on Monday, sending Spain through to the World Cup quarterfinals and knocking out a Portugal side built around Cristiano Ronaldo.
A goal at the death
For 90 minutes the game stayed locked at 0-0, Spain patient in possession and Portugal well organized in defense. The breakthrough came in stoppage time, when Merino arrived in the box to finish and spark Spanish celebrations, ESPN reported. It was the kind of late, single-goal margin that has defined many of Spain's biggest knockout wins.
Back among the last eight
The victory took Spain into their first World Cup quarterfinal since 2010, the year they won the trophy in South Africa, as France 24 reported. In the tournaments since, Spain had repeatedly fallen earlier, and this run marks a return to the latter stages for one of the game's traditional powers.
Ronaldo bows out
For Portugal, the defeat brought the curtain down on another World Cup campaign and, most likely, on Ronaldo's long World Cup story, CBS News reported. At 41, one of the game's most decorated forwards left the field beaten, unable to conjure the goal that might have extended Portugal's stay.
What comes next
Spain move on to face the winner of the United States against Belgium in the quarterfinals. Having ground out a result against a strong opponent without conceding, they will fancy their chances of going deeper, though the manner of Monday's win, decided by a single moment after a long stalemate, was a reminder of how fine the margins are at this stage of a World Cup.
