Why isn’t Mikel Merino starting for Spain against France at the 2026 World Cup?

France clash with Spain and Mikel Merino will not be on his team’s starting eleven in today’s 2026 World Cup semifinal at Dallas Stadium, despite arriving at this stage of the tournament as arguably one of the country’s most in-form players.

Manager Luis de la Fuente is keeping the same setup that has carried Spain through the knockout rounds: Lamine Yamal, Dani Olmo, and Alex Baena feeding Mikel Oyarzabal up front. There’s no space in that XI for Merino, who will once again start the match among the substitutes.

It isn’t a form issue, and it isn’t fitness-related, either — it’s a matter of not wanting to break a winning formula. De la Fuente has leaned on the same core group for most of the tournament, reserving Merino for a specific job late in games rather than folding him into the starting shape.

In midfield, the manager opted to stick with Rodri and Fabian Ruiz, just as he did against Belgium, while Pedri began among the substitutes and came on in the second half as a replacement for Rodri.

Spain’s most dangerous man off the bench

That job has paid off twice in as many knockout rounds. Merino came off the bench in the Round of 16 against Portugal and needed only a handful of minutes to win a free-kick that sparked Spain’s winning move, before finishing it himself in stoppage time to eliminate Cristiano Ronaldo’s side 1-0.

He repeated the trick in the quarterfinals against Belgium, entering as a substitute and scoring the 88th-minute winner in a 2-1 victory that punched Spain’s ticket to the semifinals.

With two of Spain’s last two knockout goals both belonging to Merino, de la Fuente has every reason to keep saving him for the same role against France — even if it means the Arsenal midfielder starts yet another must-win match on the bench.