No Spain player had ever managed it once. Mikel Merino has now done it twice in the space of a week.
Per Opta, Merino is the first Spain player in World Cup history to score the winning goal in a knockout tie as a substitute twice in the same tournament. He is also the first to score two Spain winners in the 80th minute or later at a finals. Both came after he had climbed off the bench. Both spared Spain the lottery of extra time, or worse.
The stat alone reads like a fluke. Look closer and it reads like a plan.
The header that dumped Germany out
Rewind to the summer of 2024. Spain, on their way to winning the European Championship, were locked with the hosts in a quarter-final that simply would not break. Then, in the 119th minute, Merino climbed highest to head the winner. Sky Sports called it the moment that "dumps hosts out." Germany were gone. Spain went on to lift the trophy.
So none of what has happened in North America is new. When a tie is tight and the clock is against them, Spain keep reaching for the same man. This summer the pattern simply crossed the Atlantic.
Two minutes, one decisive touch
Coming off the bench to win a knockout tie is a discipline of its own. It asks a player to sit, to stay warm and stay cold at the same time, then to make a handful of touches count. Merino has turned those few minutes into an art.
Against Portugal in the last 16, he came on late, Opta lists his introduction on 84 minutes and Sofascore on 85, and settled the tie in the first minute of stoppage time. Ferran Torres, another substitute, slipped him in behind, and Merino steered a low finish inside the post. Not a header this time, but a striker's finish.
The numbers around it are absurd. It was Spain's second 90th-minute winner in World Cup history, after Joaquin Peiro against Mexico in 1962, and, per Opta, the 10th last-gasp winner of these finals, already the most in a single edition. It also brought the curtain down on Cristiano Ronaldo's World Cup career.
The quarter-final against Belgium was quicker still. Merino replaced Dani Olmo on 86 minutes. He scored on 88. When Pau Cubarsi's shot was spilled by replacement goalkeeper Senne Lammens, Merino was first to the loose ball. Two minutes on the pitch, one tie settled.
There is a logic to it. Merino is a big, box-crashing central midfielder, and Arsenal, who signed him from Real Sociedad in 2024 for an initial 27.4m pounds, rising to 31.6m with add-ons, have even deployed him as an emergency centre-forward. That is exactly the profile that punishes a tiring defence: fresh legs and a No 9's instinct dropping into a crowded box at the death, when the markers are heavy-legged and the concentration slips.
The World Cup he nearly missed
Five months ago, none of this looked remotely likely. Merino had surgery in February on a stress fracture in his right foot, sustained in Arsenal training, an injury first feared to keep him out for roughly four months. His place at the finals was in serious doubt.
He has not hidden how close it came. "It was such a huge relief," he told Yahoo Sports. "Just a few months ago, being here was unthinkable. Sometimes I found it hard to believe I could be here. Now it all makes sense."
Why de la Fuente keeps him waiting
The obvious question is why a man this decisive keeps starting among the substitutes. Luis de la Fuente has an answer, and he is not for turning. Rodri and Fabian Ruiz have been his central-midfield pair throughout the knockout rounds; Merino's only start of the tournament came in the final group game against Uruguay.
"The players' contribution has been masterful," de la Fuente said after the Portugal win, as quoted by Goal. "He's world-class. I want to emphasise the importance of the players who come off the bench. And Mikel never disappoints; he's a safe bet."
A safe bet from the bench, then, by design rather than accident. The manager wants the game stretched and the opposition tired before he plays his card, and so far the card keeps winning.
Whether he holds his nerve against France is the question hanging over Spain. They meet Les Bleus in the semi-final on Tuesday 14 July at AT&T Stadium in Dallas, 90 minutes from the final. Merino has spent this tournament proving he can change a game late. Sooner or later, de la Fuente may have to decide whether Spain can afford not to start him.
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