Spain faces Belgium in the second quarterfinal of this year’s World Cup (10:00 p.m.), and the “Furia Roja’s” run to this point—reaching the tournament’s quarterfinals—has, in truth, been far more convincing than that of the Belgians.

The Spaniards finished first in their group and overcame Austria and Portugal in the knockout rounds, and, of course, they have kept a clean sheet in all five of their games in this tournament!

Belgium, on the other hand, no matter how much trouble they’ve caused, no matter how much they now seem like a tired generation, will try to draw inspiration from their ’86 triumph!

Back then, at the same stage of the World Cup, against the same opponent, they had defeated Spain in a penalty shootout before being eliminated by Argentina in the semifinals.

However, the “Furia Roja” have won 9 of their 11 most recent head-to-head matches since the 1980 Euro.

Rudi García’s team needed a hard-fought 3-2 victory over Senegal in the Round of 16, crushed the U.S. 4-1 in the wake of the historic match against Balogun, and it would be a major upset if they were to overcome the Spanish hurdle.

Yorente, Merino, and Ruiz have given De La Fuente something to think about for the starting lineup, De Ketelaere will once again play as a false nine for the Belgians, for whom Onana has suffered a cruciate ligament tear.

Probable starting lineups

Spain (Luis De La Fuente): Simón, Porro, Kubarshi, Laporte, Cucurella, Rodri, Pedri, Yamal, Olmo, Baena, Oyarzabal

Belgium (Rudi García): Courtois, Castagne, Ngoy, Mehele, De Keper, Vanaken, Tielemans, Lukebakio, De Bruyne, Trossard, De Ketelaere

*photo source: fifa.com