Mikel

“Mikel is incredible,” Spain boss Luis de la Fuente said after the quarter-final win.

“He has many qualities. He is a player that across the whole World Cup could have played in whatever team and done great.

“For us he is the standard of this idea, of this model. It is a pleasure to have him, and others but especially him. We know that without fail he is always there.”

Always there he may be, but Merino himself feared he would not be fit enough to play at this World Cup.

“The fact of being here a few months ago was unthinkable,” Merino said after the Portugal win.

“Now I am, as I said before, at the highest point, enjoying one of the happiest moments of my career.

“Now I remember all those bad moments, all the people who have supported me, all the people who have pushed me when even I sometimes found it difficult to believe I could be here.”

Merino’s heroics will be a familiar sight for Arsenal fans, with the 30-year-old having done similar at the Gunners.

Traditionally a midfielder, his height has seen him utilised as a striker by Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta, and the first time he was used in such a role was when he memorably came off the bench to score twice against Leicester in a 2-0 win in February last year.

“Merino is just one of those players who arrives at the right time, at the right moment in big games,” former England striker Wayne Rooney said on Match of the Day.

De la Fuente added: “He can be the best striker and the best midfielder because of his understanding of the game. He interprets the game perfectly.

“He is committed, he is generous, he is happy to do the work.”

For much of an international career that began a decade ago at the age of 19, Oyarzabal has not enjoyed much of the limelight.

He missed out on the 2022 World Cup in Qatar with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his left knee.

But four years later – and before a World Cup debut – he was in the form of his life with 12 goals in 12 international appearances.

The double against Austria extended that run to 17 in his last 16 starts, with four goals at this tournament.

“His last two seasons, since he recovered, are the best of his career,” added Balague.

“Four goals in the World Cup – our most decisive player, no doubt.”

Spain memorably played without a recognised striker at Euro 2012, but Oyarzabal is now very much the focal point of their attacks with two excellent finishes against Austria.

“Sometimes people are in doubt about Spain because of the centre-forward, but Oyarzabal is doing the job,” former Spain defender Cesar Azpilicueta told BBC One.

“A few years ago, Oyarzabal was playing a bit more on the right wing and he has transitioned more into the middle.”

Since the start of last year, the only European player with more international goals than Oyarzabal is Norway striker Erling Haaland with 22.

He also became the first Spanish player to score twice in a World Cup knockout match since Emilio Butragueno against Denmark in the last 16 of the 1986 tournament.

The statistics are impressive, but it is not to say he is overshadowed by Lamine Yamal, with the 18-year-old playing a key role in Oyarzabal being able to shine.

The Barcelona forward’s excellent ball control and dribbling skills clearly unsettles defences and pulled the Austrian defenders towards him to create more space for Oyarzabal.

“When you have someone in your team like Lamine Yamal who attracts so much attention, you know you will get more space,” said former Germany midfielder Thomas Hitzlsperger.

“Oyarzabal uses that space, gets the ball, and scores goals.”

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta believes that the penalty awarded against Atletico Madrid for a foul on Eberechi Eze was not a “clear and obvious error”, meaning VAR did not need to intervene and the original on-field decision to give the penalty should have stood.

MATCH REPORT: Arsenal draw at Atletico after penalty controversy

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We’ve had two nights of handball controversy, first involving Bayern Munich and now Arsenal.

In both cases, the ball took a deflection off the body before hitting the arm, and fans have been conditioned into thinking this means there cannot be a penalty.

What referees actually look for is a clear change of trajectory. Why is that? Because it means the arm position would not create a barrier to the natural direction of the ball.

If the ball stays on roughly its intended path, then the ball touching the arm takes precedent.

The penalty given against Alphonso Davies on Tuesday would not have been awarded in the Premier League as the arm was too close to the body.

For Uefa, the fact that the arm moves out from the body before the ball hits it would trump the small deflection.

But Ben White’s handball against Atletico was a very clear penalty under Uefa’s definition. The arm was a long way out from the body and came in to make contact with the ball.

There is some discretion if the arm is being brought in to make the body smaller, but in White’s case it started from so far out, a penalty would be expected.

The Premier League is more relaxed than Europe even when it comes to deflections before a handball. That said, Arsenal defender Gabriel should have really conceded a penalty at Newcastle earlier this season as his arm, when sliding, was raised very high and the deflection off the body was negligible.

Would the ball deflecting off White’s shin have caused VAR to stay out of this in the Premier League? Possibly, but the movement of the arm was very clear.

A definite spot-kick in Europe, borderline for the Premier League.