Merino off the bench, Spain past Belgium, and a semifinal that will test La Roja's depth

Spain did what Spain do at this stage of a tournament — they waited, they absorbed pressure, and then, with the clock edging into its final movements, they struck. Mikel Merino came off the bench at 21:39 UTC on 10 July 2026 to score the goal that separated La Roja from a Belgian side that had spent the closing stages of the quarterfinal leaning on the door. The Al Jazeera match report credits the goal to a slip from substitute goalkeeper Senne Lammens, who came on for Belgium and was unable to hold the moment. The 1–0 result sends Spain into the semifinals and sets up a heavyweight collision with France.

The pattern was familiar. De la Fuente's squad has played the long game through the knockout rounds — controlling territory, rotating wide, probing without forcing — and the goal that settled this tie arrived not from a sweeping move but from the kind of late-game chaos that disproportionately rewards the side pressing for it. Merino, the Arsenal midfielder on loan at Real Sociedad in 2024–25 before returning to north London, is exactly the profile of forward-arriving midfielder Spain has built its modern identity around. The finish, in the circumstances, was straightforward.

How the game actually broke

Belgium's shape was the story of the first hour. Rudi Garcia's side sat deeper than they had in the group stages, content to let Spain circulate in front of them while keeping two banks of four compact and the central channel closed. The match report notes that Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams were the principal outlets on either flank, but Belgium's narrow midfield trio — with Youri Tielemans and Amadou Onana tasked with screening the central lane — blunted the cut-back lanes that have been Spain's most reliable route to goal in this tournament.

The substitution that decided the tie was not Merino's introduction. It was Belgium's. Lammens, the Royal Antwerp and now-Club Brugge goalkeeper, came on in place of Koen Casteels and was, by the time Merino's effort reached him, the wrong side of his starting position. A spilled ball, a hesitating body shape, and the ball was in. Al Jazeera's wire does not detail the exact minute beyond "late," but the goal came after the 80th — a window in which Spain have now scored three times in this tournament, more than any other side still standing.

What this says about Spain's squad depth

De la Fuente's selection throughout Euro 2026 has leaned on a relatively stable spine — Unai Simón in goal, a Robin le Normand–Aymeric Laporte partnership in central defence, Rodri at the base of midfield, and the Yamal–Williams axis out wide. The fringes have done the rest. Merino's winner is the latest in a run of contributions from players who were not in the starting XI when the tournament began: Dani Olmo had a goal and an assist off the bench against Georgia in the round of 16, Ferran Torres scored as a substitute against Croatia, and Pedri's introduction in the second half of the quarterfinal changed the tempo of Spain's passing.

This is a Spain team that has rotated without losing its shape. That is unusual. Tournament football tends to punish the side that changes too much, but De la Fuente has built a squad where the drop-off between starter and substitute is, in positional terms, marginal. Merino's header against Germany in the 2024 World Cup quarterfinal was the template; he is, by now, the most-cited example of a Spain substitute who treats his introduction as a fresh start rather than a salvage job.

The counter-read: Belgium, control and the missed opportunity

There is a version of this match in which Belgium are the story. They absorbed Spain for more than an hour, denied the wide combinations that have been La Roja's primary weapon, and pushed the game into exactly the half-spaces where they wanted it contested. Romelu Lukaku, operating as a lone striker, won the duels that mattered; Jérémy Doku, in flashes, exposed the Spain left-back position that has been the one area of structural concern for De la Fuente all tournament.

The decision to withdraw Casteels for Lammens is the kind of substitution that, in hindsight, becomes the whole narrative. Casteels had not made an error. The change reads as either a tactical refresh or a preparation for extra time — and either way, the result is that the goal is, fairly or not, attached to Lammens's name. Belgian football will spend the next news cycle doing the same autopsy. The honest read is that Belgium were still in the tie when Merino scored. They were not dominating it, but they had not been broken.

What France brings on the other side

The semifinal, on the available evidence, is the fixture the bracket had been building toward. France navigated their own quarterfinal without the same late drama, and Didier Deschamps's side arrives with Kylian Mbappé in the form he showed in the group stage rather than the muted version that appeared in the round of 16. A France–Spain semifinal at a European Championship is also, structurally, a clash of two squads that have spent the tournament answering different questions — France about whether their attack could click without relying on a single carrier, Spain about whether their possession game could translate into knockout goals.

Spain's answer, three games into the knockout rounds, is yes. The next question is whether they can answer it again, against a France side that will not gift them the same territorial dominance that Belgium conceded. De la Fuente's bench has been the difference so far. Whether it remains the difference against Mbappé, Ousmane Dembélé and a midfield that can match Spain's press is the question the semifinal will actually answer.

Stakes and the road to the final

For Spain, the path to a first major final since Euro 2024 runs through a France team they have not beaten in regulation time in their last three meetings. For Belgium, a generation that included Lukaku, Kevin De Bruyne and a back line that, on its day, could match anyone, exits a tournament in which they were competitive throughout but ultimately undone by a single late moment. The wire does not specify the date or venue of the semifinal beyond confirming France as the opponent; the format of the knockout rounds and the tournament calendar place it in the days immediately following the quarterfinals, with the final scheduled for the following weekend.

The squad that wins the next match wins the right to be considered the favourite. On current form, that label belongs to neither side without argument — only to the team that, on the night, manages the closing minutes better than Belgium managed them.

Monexus framed this as a squad-depth story as much as a result: Spain's bench, not their starting XI, has been the through-line of the knockout rounds, and Merino's winner continues a pattern the wire alone would have underplayed.

Wire provenance

This editorial synthesis draws on the following public wire/social posts:

• https://t.me/ajbreakingnews/...