Once again, turned up when it mattered most. Spain were on their way to extra time against Portugal in a tight and tense game when Luis de la Fuente looked to his bench. The midfielder came on and in a matter of minutes he had booked his team's place in the quarter finals of the , taking full advantage of a pass from fellow substitute Ferran Torres.
It was a typical Merino goal. He attacked the space, received the pass from Torres and .
"When you are warming up, you can see the game clearly and so when you go on to the pitch you have an idea of where you can do damage," Merino said. "Even though running into space isn't one of my strengths, I knew exactly what I had to do. I was trying to be present, see what Portugal were doing and see where we could get at them. I found a space and Ferran played me in." A native of Pamplona, famed for the San Fermin bull-running festival popularised abroad by Ernest Hemingway, which kicked off the day after the game, Merino felt a sense of fate about his goal.
"We were playing in red and white [the colours of the festival], it was written in the stars that I would score the night before San Fermin," he said. "Maybe that helped me."
Merino has turned into one of De la Fuente's key men. For a midfielder, he sure scores a lot of goals. And above all, he scores when it matters most. He seized the moment in Stuttgart in the quarter-finals of UEFA EURO 2024, heading home in the 119th minute against Germany to knock the hosts out and put Spain on the path to glory.
Since then he has scored 10 more goals for Spain, from 23 matches. In the 25 previous games he had only struck once. He demonstrated his new-found hunger for goals during World Cup qualifying, hitting a hat-trick against Turkey and netting against Bulgaria.
In the process, he has turned into a extra threat for a team that already has a lot of attacking weapons. In a Spain side where Lamine Yamal, Mikel Oyarzabal, Nico Williams, Dani Olmo and Torres get most of the attention, Merino has been scoring like an insatiable marksman.
His goal against Portugal was all the more impressive considering the state he was in just a few weeks ago. He was close to missing the World Cup with a stress fracture of the foot sustained while playing for Arsenal in January, leaving him with a race against time to get fit.
He underwent surgery, had a lengthy recovery period and moments of great uncertainty. "All that comes to your mind, memories of those dark times when you think you're not going to be a part of the squad," he said. "I was improving and then I had to endure some tough moments. It's part of football."
That's why his goal meant so much. It was reward for working so hard to recover and further proof that Merino has a habit of turning up at the crucial stage of tournaments. Germany found that out at the European Championship and now the same has happened to Portugal at the World Cup. Spain, meanwhile, are still fighting for the trophy, thanks to Merino once again making his presence felt in the nick of time.
Sources: FIFA Official
