Spain win it late to bid farewell to Ronaldo at World Cup

Substitute Mikel Merino scored a late winner to put Spain in the quarter-finals with a 1-0 victory over Portugal and end Cristiano Ronaldo’s World Cup career on Monday.

The European champions will face the United States — the only one of the co-hosts remaining — or Belgium on Friday in Los Angeles.

In front of an expectant crowd of 70 649 at the air-conditioned home of the Dallas Cowboys, a match that on paper promised so much failed to really deliver.

Extra time looked certain, before fellow substitute Ferran Torres slipped in Merino to settle the contest in the first minute of injury time.