Predicted lineups, stats and where to watch as the European champions head into the World Cup semi-finals
Spain are favorites to beat Belgium and advance to the World Cup semi-finals, but to do so they will have to go past a familiar face: Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.
Courtois has spent the last eight years in Madrid after joining from Chelsea in 2018, where he has already established himself as one of the best goalkeepers in the world.
He grew that reputation at the Santiago Bernabeu, helping Madrid win three La Liga titles and two Champions League crowns.
The 6ft 7in stopper will be the last line of defense for Belgium in Los Angeles on Friday night and his opposite number Unai Simon has been full of praise for the 34-year-old.
Simon told AS: “His body allows him to hold a lot of goals. He is big and difficult to score past him. Sometimes it seems that tall goalkeepers can have a weak point in communication or speed but Courtois has shown that he has great skill with the ball, that his movements are quick in the goal and that he handles all parts of the area a perfect goalkeeper is a perfect goalkeeper.”
Spain midfielder Dani Olmo agreed, adding: “Belgium have the best goalkeepers in the world, if not the best. They have a few players who can make a difference and we have to be careful.”
Courtois describes Spain as a “second home” to him now but he will have no split loyalties on Friday night when the teams clash at the SoFi Stadium.
He said: “I have lived in Spain for 11 years, that’s a long time. In the end I will always be Belgian, although Spain is my second home and I will probably continue to live there after my work. On Friday, only Belgium counts.”
Belgium’s lackluster attitude brings back memories of the 2018 World Cup in Russia when the Red Devils’ ‘Golden Generation’ beat Brazil 2-1 in the quarter-finals.
“Individually, we may have had more quality then, but now we have a stronger group,” Courtois said. “We will fight. We have shown that at the end of the game against Senegal. We will continue to believe until the end and that is the strength of the World Cup.
“It’s nice when you play well, but the important thing is to win games, everyone knows it’s possible, we have a good team, we have qualities that can hurt Spain.
“In football everything happens. In every competition there are surprises: Champions League, Europa League, European Championships and the World Cup even in the regular leagues. I think we can take care of them, it would be a great result to finish Spain. There is a lot of confidence in our team.”
Spain v Belgium team news
Luis de la Fuente has no new injuries to deal with and is likely to name the same XI that defeated Portugal. That means that match winner Mikel Merino will also be among the substitutes.
Belgium coach Rudi Garcia will have to make one change as Amadou Onana broke down in tears during their 4-1 win over the United States. Onana’s injury looked to have cleared the way for Kevin De Bruyne to come off the bench but Garcia opted for the physical Hans Vanaken.
Jeremy Doku has also been ruled out of the USA game and the Manchester City star is unlikely to force his way back into the XI.
What is predicted is Spain v Belgium
in Spain: Simon; Porro, Cubarsi, Laporte, Cucurella; Rodri, Pedri; Yamal, Olmo, Baena; Oyarzabal
Belgium: Courtois; Castagne, Mechele, Ngoy, De Cuyper; Raskin, Tielemans, Vanaken; Trossard, Lukebakio, De Ketelaere
Where to watch Spain v Belgium: TV and streaming online
kick-off on Friday is 20:00 BST (15:00 ET / 12:00 PT). In the UK, live TV broadcasts on BBC One.
Live streaming on multiple devices is available via the BBC iPlayer app and the BBC Sport website.
Spain v Belgium statistics
- The teams kept their men on when David Silva’s goals gave Spain a 2-0 win over Belgium in a friendly in Brussels in September 2016.
- Spain are unbeaten in their last 11 games since losing 2-1 at EURO 1980 (W9 D2) and have won their last five 13-1.
- This will be the third World Cup match in this game and the second in the quarter finals. Belgium advanced to the last 8 on penalties in 1986 after a 1-1 draw, Spain won 2-1 in the group stage in 1990.
- La Roja secured their sixth consecutive World Cup record when they defeated Portugal
- Under Luis de la Fuente, Spain have progressed in all six of their major tournament knockout games
- Only two managers have progressed in their first seven ties with European countries: Vittorio Pozzo (first 8 with Italy, 1934-1938) and Vicente del Bosque (first 7 with Spain, 2010-2012)
- This is the quarterfinal game of the sixth World Cup in Spain; they were eliminated in their first four, between 1934 and 2002, but beat Paraguay 1-0 in the 2010 quarterfinals, winning that tournament.
- With the assist against the USA, Leandro Trossard (2 goals, 2 assists) became the third Belgian player on record (since 1966) to score the most goals and provide the most assists in a single World Cup (Eden Hazard in 2018, Jan Ceulemans in 1986)
- In this final, Romelu Lukaku became the second Belgian player (after Marc Wilmots in 2002) to score goals in three consecutive World Cup matches.
- All three of Lukaku’s goals in this tournament came as a substitute, only Roger Milla of Cameroon (4, in 1990) has scored more goals from the bench in just one World Cup.
Prediction Spain v Belgium
Belgium have done very well to reach this stage but we think this is where their journey ends.
Spain has a lot of quality and should pass with few alarms.
Prediction: Spain 3-0 Belgium
