Portugal
SpainThe match was tactically suffocating — a 0-0 at full time felt more likely than not until the final seconds. Spain pressed, Portugal held, and for long stretches neither team could manufacture the quality their talent suggested. The decisive factor was Spain's depth: Torres and Merino changed the game's texture the moment they arrived, stretching a Portugal side already compromised by Mendes's injury. The 91st-minute goal was Spain's entire tournament pattern compressed into one move — patient build, quick exchange, clinical finish — and it confirmed what the xG had been saying all along.
Portugal
Portugal compressed dutifully and troubled Spain more than the scoreline suggests. Diogo Costa was brilliant in goal, tipping Baena's curler around the post in the first half, and Bernardo Silva flicked a header onto the roof of the net in stoppage time that should have been the equaliser. The problem was circumstance: after Nuno Mendes limped off in the 55th minute with a muscle injury, Portugal adapted by double-marking Yamal with Semedo and Félix, which blunted Spain's most dangerous threat but left gaps elsewhere. Ronaldo contributed an acrobatic bicycle kick saved by Unai Simón — vintage ambition from a 41-year-old who gave everything even when everything was no longer quite enough.
Spain
Spain controlled proceedings with the authority of a team that has simply decided this tournament belongs to them — 68.2% possession, an xG of 1.77 against Portugal's 0.60, and a sixth clean sheet that is beginning to look less like defending and more like a philosophical position. Lamine Yamal was electric, beating Mendes repeatedly before the Portuguese resorted to doubling him up; Oyarzabal spurned the best chance of the first half by dragging wide after Olmo sent him clean through. But when the game was there to be won, it was the bench that delivered: Ferran Torres slid in Mikel Merino in the 91st minute, and Merino slotted past Costa with the composure of a man who had rehearsed it all afternoon.