Arlington, Texas. Mikel Merino scored in the first minute of second-half stoppage time, and Spain beat Portugal 1-0 on Monday to end superstar Cristiano Ronaldo's World Cup career.

Merino had just been knocked down, and a foul was called. While a Portugal player argued, Merino played the ball back in, ran toward the goal, and easily beat goalkeeper Diogo Costa after taking a pass from Ferran Torres.

Spain broke a World Cup record with its sixth consecutive clean sheet, and goalkeeper Unai Simón extended his record shutout streak to 609 minutes, advancing to the quarterfinals for the first time since winning its only World Cup title in 2010 in South Africa. 

La Roja will play either the United States or Belgium on Friday in Inglewood, California.

Ronaldo was trying to get Portugal to the quarterfinals in a second consecutive tournament for the first time. Instead, the career on soccer's biggest stage is over for the all-time leader in international goals (146) and appearances (233).

Merino didn't enter until the 85th minute, and his heads-up play showed some of the versatility that helped Arsenal win its first Premier League title in more than 20 years this spring. He had been doubtful to make Spain's squad because of injuries that also impacted his Premier League season.

The latest meeting of Iberian Peninsula rivals that first played in a friendly in Madrid 105 years ago was quite the contrast to their most recent World Cup match.

It was eight years ago that Ronaldo had his only World Cup hat trick in a 3-3 draw with Spain in a group stage opener that is considered one of the tournament's best games.

The 41-year-old superstar scored three times in this tournament, but didn't have many chances against Spain's Unai Simón, who extended his World Cup record to 609 minutes without conceding a goal. Spain became the first team to record six straight shutouts at the World Cup.

Spain broke its tie with Italy (1990) and Switzerland (2006-10) for the most consecutive World Cup matches not allowing a goal. Spain’s streak began with a 0-0 draw in the round of 16 in 2022, when Morocco advanced after a penalty shootout.

There was also a surprising scoreless draw against Cape Verde to open group play in this tournament followed by four consecutive shutout victories to advance to the quarterfinals.

Goalkeeper Simón surpassed the previous record of 517 consecutive scoreless minutes during a 3-0 blanking of Austria to open the knockout round Thursday. Famed Italian goalkeeper Walter Zenga set the standard in 1990 with five consecutive clean sheets in his home World Cup.

Simón's shutout streak started in 2022 in Qatar during a 2-1 loss to Japan to wrap up group play.

He came into the Portugal game having made only four saves in this World Cup — Austria had no shots on target — and on Monday in Arlington, Simón had to make two saves in the first half against Portugal, both on shots by Cristiano Ronaldo.

The second of those saves was an impressive diving stop, when he was still in mid air after reaching back to grab the ball with both hands. Ronaldo took that shot after teammate Jose Sa's header went off the shoulder of the 29-year-old Athletic Bilbao keeper.
 

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