Teenage winger Salma Paralluelo came off the bench to become Spain’s youngest ever goalscorer at a Women’s World Cup as she fired her country into their maiden semi-final.
Spain beat the Netherlands 2-1 on Friday morning in Wellington, which was hit by a 5.6-magnitude earthquake an hour before kick-off.
The incident caused no disruption to the match and Spain clinched their berth in the semi-finals thanks to Paralluelo’s extra-time winner.
“It was a unique moment, great euphoria to have lived through that,” Paralluelo said.
Before that, the two teams had been locked at 1-1 after 90 minutes.
Paralluelo’s Barcelona team-mate Mariona Caldentey looked to have booked Spain a spot in the semi-finals when she scored a penalty in the 80th minute after Stefanie van der Gragt was penalised for handball.
Van der Gragt made amends just moments later, though, when she smashed the ball home to score an injury-time equaliser.
Spain, however, composed themselves in extra time and 19-year-old Paralluelo was the hero.
The substitute received a pass from Jennifer Hermoso and slotted the ball home off the post as Spain made the semi-finals of a Women’s World Cup for the first time in their history.
