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Unai Simon’s impenetrable wall finally crumbled at the World Cup.
The Spanish goalkeeper had kept a clean sheet for a record 650 minutes – the tournament’s longest streak – before Belgium ended it in the quarter-finals on Friday.
Charles De Ketelaere got ahead of Pau Cubarsi to head home Timothy Castagne’s cross in the 41st minute, making it 1-1.
Belgium became the first team to score against La Roja at this year’s World Cup, breaking their tournament record of six consecutive clean sheets.
Spain’s streak began with a 0-0 draw in the round of 16 at the final tournament in 2022, with Morocco progressing on penalties. There was also a surprise goalless draw against Cape Verde for open group play this year, followed by four consecutive shutout wins to advance to the quarter-finals.
Simón broke the previous record of 517 consecutive scoreless minutes during a 3–0 win over Austria to open the knockout round. Italy goalkeeper Walter Zenga set the previous mark in 1990 with five consecutive clean sheets at his home World Cup.
Simón’s shutout streak started in 2022 in Qatar when he suffered a 2-1 loss to Japan in group play.
The 29-year-old goalkeeper faced just two shots in the first half on Friday.
