Ángel Miguel Merino scored a memorable goal in Stuttgart in 1991 but his son’s winner for Spain has eclipsed it

“This was the only thing I had left,” Ángel Miguel Merino joked, and now even that had been taken from him, but it was worth it: in return, he was given the gift of a lifetime, a gesture of gratitude for, well, for everything. No wonder there were tears in his eyes.

There were 65 seconds of extra time remaining when his son Mikel jumped, twisted his neck and headed Spain into the semi-final of Euro 2024. At first there was, Merino Jr said, an “incredible silence”, a moment’s uncertainty when “I wasn’t aware what was happening”, and then he saw his teammates sprinting off the bench and it came to him just what he had done; what he had to do too. They embraced him and then, when they let go, he set off on a run around the corner flag.

RB Leipzig forward faces club teammates and a former manager in the first quarter-final of Euro 2024

Dani Olmo would like to set the record straight. “David Raum claimed he had blocked me but I can categorically deny that,” he says.

He and his RB Leipzig teammates, not just Raum but Benjamin Henrichs too, have been on the phone a bit the past few days. There’s been no bet, but there has been a warning. “‘Look out!’ ‘Don’t come to my wing!’ – the usual,” Spain’s No 10 says. “People sometimes think it’s a big deal, but it’s normal.”