Spain suffer double injury scare ahead of potential England World Cup final

Spain outclassed France in their World Cup semi-final showdown but head into Sunday’s final with two injury concerns.

Mikel Oyarzabal and Pedro Porro struck either side of half-time for the Euro 2024 champions in Texas on Tuesday evening and will meet either England or Argentina in the final.

Porro sealed the win in the second-half, combining brilliantly with Dani Olmo before firing past Mike Maignan. But the Tottenham full-back was withdrawn after 84 minutes, replaced by Marcos Llorente, with AS reporting he asked to come off due to a hamstring strain.

Porro looked in some discomfort before his withdrawal with just five days until the final in New Jersey.

‘We’ll see if I’m fit to play. Right now I’d say I’m dead. Time to recover,’ Porro said.

Perhaps more of a concern for Spain will have been the sight of Lamine Yamal limping at full-time.

Spain boss Luis de La Fuente was hopeful his stars had not suffered any serious knocks with both players to be assessed in the coming days.

‘He’s fine as far as I know, and Pedro Porro has muscle tightness, which we’ll have to assess ,’ the Spain boss said.

Spain midfielder Rodri was unhappy with some of the challenges his young teammate faced from France players on the night, having been cut down by Lucas Digne in an incident that saw Spain handed their first-half penalty.

‘It’s clear that we’ve been dealing with this situation of numerous fouls for three games now,’ the Manchester City midfielder said.

‘I understand that some might not be fouls, but we’re talking about 10 or 15 fouls where the lad goes to ground, gets tripped, and they have to call it, because otherwise, the defenders are going to keep doing the same thing. The leniency was quite evident today.’

If England triumph against Argentina on Wednesday night, Sunday’s match will be a repeat of the Euro 2024 final where Oyarzabal sealed a late win for La Roja in Berlin.