The stage is set for two traditional rivals in Portugal and Spain to meet in their round of 16 match of the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Dallas on Tuesday.
Spain played a brilliant game against Austria in their round-of-32 match, beating them 3-0 after a brace from Mikel Oyarzabal and a header from Pedro Porro.
Meanwhile, Portugal faced a tough fight against Croatia in their previous game but eventually won 2-1 to make it to the next round. Ivan Perisic gave Croatia the lead but Cristiano Ronaldo scored from a penalty to equalise.
Ronaldo was replaced during the game by Gonçalo Ramos who then scored the winning goal in the 94th minute. A hard loss for Croatia who thought they equalised right at the death only for Joško Gvardiol's goal to be controversially disallowed for offiside.
Here's everything you need to know about the game.
How to watch:
The match will be available on BBC One in the UK, Fox Sports in the U.S., Zee5 in India and SBS in Australia. You can also follow ESPN's live updates.
Key Details:
Date, kick-off time:
U.S. ET: July 6, Monday at 3:00 p.m.
UK BST: July 6, Monday at 8:00 p.m.
India IST: July 7, Tuesday at 12:30 p.m.
Australia AEST: July 7, Tuesday at 5 a.m.
Venue: Dallas Stadium
Referee:
Team News and Predicted line-ups:
Portugal
Diogo Costa
João Cancelo | Rúben Dias | Renato Veiga | Nuno Mendes
João Neves | Vitinha
Pedro Neto | Bruno Fernandes | Rafael Leão
Cristiano Ronaldo
Spain
Unai Simón
Marcos Llorente | Pau Cubarsí | Aymeric Laporte | Marc Cucurella
Mikel Merino | Rodri | Pedri
Lamine Yamal | Mikel Oyarzabal | Álex Baena
Talking Points
Spain will be the favourites
Even though Spain ended up topping their group, they didn't look like a team that could go all the way. The European champions drew against Cape Verde and only scored one goal in their win over Uruguay. In their first knockout game though, they looked like a team that could challenge the title.
Lamine Yamal starting the game made a big difference. Although he was not completely fit against Austria, he was still at his outstanding self. The full-backs made a big impact with both Pedro Porro and Marc Cucurella involved in the goals. Oyarzabal, who was guilty of missing chances in the previous games, made it count this time and manager Luis de la Fuente knows that his main striker scoring goals bodes well going forward.
It's also important to point out that despite their struggles in the group stage, Spain haven't conceded a goal yet. Portugal will be their toughest opponents so far, but this Spain team should be able to overcome them.
Portugal will need improvements
Head coach Roberto Martínez will be happy at the way his team fought against Croatia, but he will know that his team will need to show more against Spain if they want to play in the quarterfinal. Although the squad is full of talent and have the experience of playing for big clubs in Europe, they haven't been that dominating on the field.
Martínez will have to improve areas across the field. His midfield, with big names like Vitinha, João Neves and Bruno Fernandes, hasn't been at their best. Their defence came under intense pressure under Croatia and if not for the offiside calls, they would've conceded multiple times. In fact, Croatia had more shots on goals (6) compared to Portugal (3).
Then there's the question of Ronaldo. He has scored three goals so far but two came against Uzbekistan and one was a penalty against Croatia. He was substituted for Ramos in the 80th minute, who ended up scoring a brilliant header to win the match for his team.
It's highly likely that Martínez will stick with Ronaldo up front against Spain, but the forward's work rate against a highly attacking side will come under the scanner. Portugal will enjoy the possession so it's also extremely important that Ronaldo and others are efficient in front of the goal.
Not so long ago, Portugal came back twice to make it 2-2 in the 2025 Nations League final and then went on to win the title on penalties. They can cause trouble for their Iberian rival, but they will have to show improvements to do so.