In the way that such things always seem to go out here, the man of the match award for the quarter-final game which delivered Spain to Tuesday’s titanic World Cup semi-final against France went to the megastar, Lamine Yamal. Not the player who arrived from the bench at a moment of supreme jeopardy and scored the match-winning goal.He’s celebrated in the places that matter, though. Turn to the Spanish press and you’ll know that Mikel Merino is the one being feted in every village and town from Bilbao to Seville. ‘El heroe infinito’, AS proclaimed, above an image of him, after his 85th minute goal sealed quarter-final victory against Belgium, four days after his 86th minute goal sank the Portuguese and ended Cristiano Ronaldo’s international career. The Arsenal player’s story, a substitute’s story, is one of collectivism and coolness and France is taken by it, too. ‘We’ll end up calling him Ole Gunnar Merino,’ L’Equipe observed.The story is rich in the telling, too, because it has such human depth. After his goal against Portugal, the 30-year-old embarked, as always, on an idiosyncratic celebration where he circled the corner flag. A celebration which his father Miguel-Angel Merino made his own after once scoring for Osasuna in a match against VfB Stuttgart. Up in Pamplona, where Merino was born, there is an image of him as a child, sitting in the lap of Miguel-Angel, who wears his sweat-stained Celta Vigo after an afternoon’s toil at the club’s Balaídos ground in the mid-1990s. It’s been pored over this week. Spaniards adore the Merino story.In some ways, it’s a case of ‘like father, like son’ because toil and perseverance have also brought Merino up into the firmament at this World Cup. In January, he suffered an unusual kind of stress fracture to his foot while playing for Arsenal against Manchester United. Surgery meant he was missing for 115 days but Spain coach Luis de la Fuente selected him anyway. Regular substitute Mikel Merino has emerged as Spain’s unlikely World Cup hero this summer The Arsenal midfielder can’t stop scoring off the bench late on to send his side throughThe versatility of a player who’d had spells in six different positions before Mikel Arteta first employed him as an emergency false 9 in a game at Leicester last year – he scored twice – had much to do with it.Merino’s versatility for the Premier League champions has enhanced a career which had brought him to the Emirates via Osasuna, Borussia Dortmund, Newcastle United and Real Sociedad. But it is with La Roja that he has truly blossomed. Spain, just like Arsenal, lack a truly world class striker and Merino has consistently provided the goods at moments of supreme national importance – and always from the bench.There was his delicate header to seal a 2-1 extra-time victory over Germany in the Euros quarter-final at Stuttgart two years ago – loaded with significance because of his father’s goal at that stadium. Then, the strike from distance against Portugal in Dallas – the ‘chupinazo’ as Spaniards took to calling it, in reference to the single rocket whose firing marks the beginning of Pamplona’s San Fermín festival. The crucial strike against Belgium maintained an extraordinary pattern.‘He has an exceptional understanding of the game because he has a vision of what the team needs and the composure to interpret it in key moments of the match,” De la Fuente said of Merino in Dallas. ‘He never disappoints. He’s a sure thing. He’s always there in the important moments. I always say he’s one of the best in his position.’Merino now stands as Spain’s all-time top scorer in knockout matches, their joint highest-scoring substitute in World Cups and European Championships and one of only two players to have scored in two consecutive World Cup knockout ties. No player from any nation has managed the latter while coming off the bench.For all those star quality players which football gives us, there is always equivalent need for those who play in shadow, protecting rather than shining, and that’s why Spain such heroism in Merino. One of the more lavish recent ruminations on him concluded: ‘He plays as if he knows time is running out, ensuring he always arrives right on cue. He has no need to take center stage. He waits in the wings. He watches the battle. He listens to the din. And when the match begins to resemble a Greek tragedy, he steps onto the pitch.’ Lamine Yamal and Merino train with Spain ahead of Tuesday’s huge semi-final against FranceYamal has been speaking in a way which demonstrates supreme self-confidence in his ability to break his goal duck out here against a France side who are now many people’s favourites. Merino speaks more modestly. ‘I try to position myself in areas where I can hurt the opponent,’ he said.Don’t be at all surprised if he is the one who delivers Spain to a final against Argentina or England. The Spanish paper Marca was discussing ‘clutch moments’ in football after his goal sent the Belgians packing. ‘In Spain, they don’t call it “clutch”, its writer observed. ‘They call it “Mikel Merino.”’How much is David Beckham set to pocket from his World Cup brand deals? Take on our quiz in our newsletter HERE