69 min: … and that’s drinks. White port and tonics all round!

68 min: … Simon claims and goes long, looking for Yamal down the right. Maignan comes miles out of his box to head clear. France veering close to desperate-measures territory. “The French are being coqblocked,” quips Katerina Petta. “Spelling matters.”

67 min: … though it’s a risky tactic, and Mbappe picks up possession on the right. He cracks a low drive towards the bottom left; Cucurella deflects out for a corner, from which …

66 min: France are on the front foot at last. Spain seem happy enough to sit back, hold their shape, and wait for the hydration break.

65 min: One corner leads to another, and the second sees Tchouameni, at the near post, flick harmlessly high and wide from six yards.

64 min: Mbappe puts his head down and races past Porro on the left. He smashes a shot goalwards from a tight angle. Simon is forced to turn around for a corner. Basic but effective.

63 min: France look utterly disjointed. And now Spain have them exactly where they want them, as they pass and move in their time-honoured style. Spain have been as impressive as France have been poor.

62 min: Yamal zipped past Digne with ease, there, and didn’t have to go so early. France can consider themselves extremely lucky to still be in this semi-final!

61 min: Spain have the ball in the net for the third time. Yamal is released down the right and enters the box, dropping a shoulder before whip-curling a finish into the top left. France are saved by the offside flag.

60 min: On the touchline, Didier Deschamps looks on in open-mouthed astonishment. Hands on hips. His team were ripped apart there. So slick. And brave, too: Olmo took a whack when playing that one-two with Porro.

57 min: France have to shuffle the deck up front, and send on Doue for Barcola.

55 min: Barcola finds himself in a bit of space down the left. He’s got options in the middle, but decides to take on Porro instead. He knocks the ball past the defender, and rounds him on the outside, but he’s taken a heavy touch and Simon sorts things out. It’s just not clicking for France today.

53 min: Yamal spins the out-of-sorts Digne on the right and tears off. Barcola takes up the chase and eventually takes the ball off his man. “Òu est le Thuram de nos jours?” wonders Niall Mullen.

52 min: Oyarzabal spins into a little bit of space down the inside-left channel and, from the edge of the box, sends a rising drive over the bar. France have not flown out of the blocks in this second half. They kind of needed to.

51 min: Lacroix needlessly barges into the back of Oyarzabal, who takes the opportunity to stay down awhile. Spain already working the clock when they can. From the resulting free kick, Yamal is pinged clear down the right by Porro, but he can’t lob Maignan from a tight angle. Then the flag pops up for offside anyway.

49 min: Spain get the ball back and do it themselves. “I’m switching between TSN, FOX, and others,” begins Brian Hayden. “Every commentator and former ref has (for the first time this tournament maybe) been unanimous that it was the clearest penalty you could want, and I agree. It doesn’t matter if Yamal was trying to ‘honestly’ play the ball or if it was an accident — if you full-on kick someone high it’s a foul all day every day. It’s your responsibility to be aware of other players and not kick them four feet off the ground. It’s basically the definition of reckless.”

47 min: France start the half with a little Spanish-style patient possession. Meanwhile Simon McMahon is watching the game in Nice Old Town: “The locals were giving it laldy during the anthems, they’re a bit quieter now. I have my Scotland shirt on of course, just to make them feel a bit better about themselves.”

France get the second half started. They’ve switched out Rabiot, who was on a yellow and not treading particularly carefully, for Kone. “France were so disorganised and discombobulated after Saliba had to be substituted that I really thought Spain would score another,” writes Kári Tulinius. “As brilliant as France are, I doubt anyone could come back from 2-0 against this defence. La Furia Roja didn’t quite let themselves go wild when France were flailing around chaotically, and if Les Bleus come back, there will be regret that the Spanish didn’t push their advantage.”

Half-time postbag. “Interesting penalty takes. I think Digne is guilty of both not controlling the ball very well and being unaware of his surroundings while he flings his leg out. Two things you really don’t want to do when defending in your own box” – Sean Orlowicz

“The refereeing in this tournament hasn’t been amazing, but some of the VAR interventions (or non-interventions) have been utterly inexplicable. Can anyone state with clarity what the rules are any more? And if not, what does that mean for football as a sport at all?” – Warren Lee

“This might be the most egregious display of refereeing in the entire tournament - which is a high bar indeed. We actually now seem to have VAR correcting terrible decisions that they are not entitled to rule on, but feel they have to as the on-field decision is so bad. Really beyond dreadful” – Colin Livingstone

“Worried for France right now, at times it’s like watching the Spanish 2010 vintage” – Simon Lane

“Hungary 1954, Holland 1974, Brazil 1982 … France 2026?” – Zafar Sobhan

“My inexpert assessment: immoveable object has clamped down on irresistible force” – Dorkus McBride

45 min +5: Olise wins a throw down the right. Cucurella contests it: despite being on a booking, he can’t help himself from telling it as he sees it. He stops just before the referee’s breaking point.

45 min +4: France pass it around the middle of the park to little effect.

45 min +2: Kunde whips a low, hard cross through the six-yard box from the right. Mbappe is this close to meeting the ball at the near post. No cigar.

45 min +1: The first of six additional first-half minutes.

45 min: Rabiot lunges in on Ruiz, and catches his foot. He’s damned fortunate not to be shown a second yellow. A fair chance he’ll not be coming out for the second half.

44 min: From the restart, Dembele runs into Ruiz and is awarded a free kick for … what, exactly? But then VAR tells the referee to overturn the decision. All very strange. It’s probably the correct ruling, but whether VAR was entitled to get involved is open to interpretation. Didier Deschamps is fuming.

43 min: Simon tries to claim the corner, and accidentally nudges his own man Oyarzabal. Meanwhile Laporte goes over clutching his head. France will be awarded a drop ball out on the left.

42 min: Barcola rolls a defence-splitter down the inside-left channel to release Mbappe. But Simon has read the danger, and races from his box to block-tackle Mbappe and clear. That had to be timed perfectly. France have to make do with a corner.

41 min: Upamecano launches long down the right, and looks to have released Mbappe, who has options in the middle. But then the flag goes up for offside. He looked on. Spain get away with one there.

39 min: Nothing comes of the corner. Spain are giving France a little bit of a chasing right now.

38 min: Maignan’s poor pass out is intercepted by Baena. Spain then work the ball across the face of the box, left to right. Olmo backflicks down the channel to release Yamal, who could shoot but squares for Ruiz instead. Ruiz tries to flip the ball into the bottom right, but it’s deflected wide. What a walk-in goal that would have been!

37 min: Now Porro has a whack from distance. It’s wild.

36 min: Barcola drops a shoulder to cut in from the left, then aims for the top right. High and wide. He should have played a reverse pass to Digne, in acres of space on the overlap. France are not thinking clearly.

35 min: France are nearly undone by a simple long punt down the middle. Simon launches, Baena gets in ahead of Upamecano and nearly rounds Maignon. Baena dinks harmlessly wide left, and then the flag goes up correctly for offside. But France are looking ragged, and need to get their act together quickly. Another Spanish goal and they’ll be in a world of pain.

34 min: Olmo skies a shot from the best part of 30 yards. Camera cables watch out! “I love Lamine Yamal, but I hate those cheap penalties,” begins Desi Duncker. “He wasn’t making a good faith effort to play the ball at all. He just saw that Digne was about to kick the ball and he launched himself into the path of his kick to draw the penalty. When Erik Lamela played for Tottenham, he got a few of those fouls. I thought it was cheap then and I think it’s cheap now. Although it complies with the letter of the law, I wish the officials had more discretion to overrule it, given Lamine Yamal’s clear intent.”

33 min: France look a little shaken at having gone behind. Olmo and Cucurella exchange passes down the left and nearly open them up. Upamecano does just about enough to bundle the ball clear.

31 min: … but the next card is earned by Cucurella, who crudely clatters into Olise twice in as many seconds. Dembele sends the resulting free kick into the hands of Simon.

30 min: Saliba, sadness etched across his face, trudges off. Lacroix comes on in his place. “France already have a booking, got away with another that could have been red, and have kicked Yamal inside the penalty box,” tick-tick-ticks Justin Kavanagh. “The tuxedos are off. Now can the Spanish matadors break out their muletas (red capes) and goad them into further transgressions to end this as a contest.”

29 min: It doesn’t look as though Saliba is able to continue.

28 min: More bad news for France as Saliba sits down, shaking his head and pointing to his back.

27 min: The game restarts.

26 min: “That was identical to the penalty Kane conceded against Mexico,” notes Phil Moseley. “Both Kane and Digne made the cardinal sin of not having eyes on the back of their heads.”

24 min: … and that’s drinks. Digne could probably do with a pint of that pastis liqueur right now.

23 min: France are now behind for the first time at this World Cup.

21 min: Digne isn’t arguing, but Mbappe is. He claims the ball skimmed Yamal’s arm. But it’s on the sleeve. This won’t be overturned.

18 min: Ruiz tries to release Cucurella down the inside-left channel, but Upamecano reads the danger and comes across to shepherd the ball out for a goal kick. Both teams are looking lively in attack, though so far things have broken down in the final third. It’ll only take one pass to stick.

16 min: Dembele sends Mbappe clear, just, down the middle with a long rake. Simon is out of his box on walkabout. Mbappe is caught by Laporte and Cubarsi, who do enough to usher him away to the right and although Dembele arrives to help, the attack eventually peters out. For a second, Spain were all over the shop, and were lucky Mbappe couldn’t power clear with his first touch.

15 min: Olise slides in on Rodri, studs on ankle. It’s not a good challenge. He’s very lucky not to be booked; some might even argue for a red, because it wasn’t very pretty.

13 min: Mbappe, near the edge of the Spanish box, tries to find Dembele with a diagonal pass to the right flank, but gets it all wrong. Goal kick. Chances are he’ll be taking a shot next time he’s within range.

11 min: Before the free kick can be taken, the referee goes to the touchline to get his free-kick foam. He’d forgotten it. Then he draws a line. Baena blasts the set piece straight into the wall, but Yamal collects the rebound and reaches the byline on the right before flicking one elegantly into the middle. Upamecano eyebrows away from danger. Lovely cross from Yamal; it would have been some assist.

9 min: Rabiot stands on Olmo’s foot as the Spanish attacker tries to burst into the box down the right. It’s a free kick, right of centre, in a dangerous position … and a yellow card for Rabiot. It’ll be a long match for the France midfielder now.

7 min: Dembele has the opportunity to release Kounde down the right but butchers the pass. The French attackers are beginning to open their legs and move through the gears, though.

6 min: Barcola chases after a pass down the left. Porro slides in. He’s late. If Barcola goes over, it’s surely a free kick and a yellow card, but Barcola stays up on his feet and wins a corner instead. Nothing comes from the set piece. Barcola did Porro a huge favour there. Full marks for lack of cynicism.

5 min: Spain are seeing more of the ball in these early exchanges. France happy enough to sit back and hold their shape, before launching the press. All pretty much as expected.

3 min: A first touch for Yamal, who is shoved off the ball by Rabiot. Then a first touch for Mbappe, who can’t get the better of Ruiz down the left. Both star players into the action pretty much from the get-go, then.

2 min: Simon faffs with the ball at his feet, and is nearly closed down by Mbappe. But the keeper gets himself out of bother in style, selling Mbappe a dummy before finally getting around to clearing.

1 min: Spain take a few touches of the ball, then Cucurella tries to release Baena down the left with a long pass. It’s overhit. Maignan claims.

Before kick-off, a moment of silence for the passing of the Emir of Qatar … and then Spain get the ball rolling.

The teams are out! France are the designated home team, so they wear their first-choice blue. Spain therefore sport their delicious white second strip, as per protocol for colour-blind viewers. It’s the pre-tournament favourites versus the reigning European champions at the home of America’s Team, and it’s going to happen very soon.

More from the postbag. “Hello from a partying Dallas Stadium! Olise’s touch in the warm-up is absolutely butter, and he’s curling a fair few in from range for good measure. Merino, on the other hand, seems to exclusively be practicing his inevitable 176th minute tap-in” – Tanay Padhi

“Luis de la Fuente and Didier Deschamps are two of the more levelheaded coaches at this World Cup. The pair in charge of the other semi-finalists seem somewhat prone to mid-match (and post-match) meltdowns. So the last four seems to guarantee us a tactician v vibey chaos final. Spain to prevail, I’m predicting, with Rodri conducting the orchestra to a grand finale today” – Justin Kavanagh

“As an England fan my optimism sees us in the final, but we fall at that hurdle again. So could this match tonight last three days? All key players pick up red cards and second tournament yellows? If this happens I could see us taking the final to at least extra time” – Fin

Another reminder that today’s game could quite easily go to extra time and penalties. I mean, you didn’t need reminding about that at all … but I needed an excuse to trail this gorgeous gallery. Go on, lose yourself in it, we’ll still be here when you get back, just in time for kick-off.

Free-scoring France have two contenders in the race for the Golden Boot. Kylian Mbappé leads the way on eight goals, while Ousmane Dembélé has five. Spain’s leading marksman is Mikel Oyarzabal with four.

Tonight’s referee will surely be hoping to get in and out of Dodge without drawing any attention to himself. It’s not exactly been a banner tournament for officialdom, is all. So let’s give 35-year-old Salvadorian referee Iván Barton his flowers while we still can. This will be his fourth match at this World Cup; his main moment of note is the dismissal of Paraguay’s Miguel Almiron for covering his mouth during a brouhaha against Turkey. It’s his only red card so far, albeit one which had grave consequences for one poor hot-headed soul in the TV gantry. Barton also refereed Japan-Sweden and Switzerland-Colombia.

Pre-match postbag. “When a team that has Yamal and Rodri is considered an underdog in a contest, it speaks volumes about the other team. Honestly no other team has delighted me as much as this French team (and I have been following football from 1982)” – krishnamoorthy v

“Both France and Spain have had near total control of every game they’ve played in the world cup so far. England and Argentina on the other hand could say they’ve been taken to hell and back by the teams they’ve played in the knockout rounds. If I am to guess, today’s game may well see one of the teams winning by an odd goal and then going on to win the final. It is difficult to envision either of Argentina or England beating Spain or France based on current form” – Farhan

“I think we can be confident that we’re watching the eventual tournament winners tonight, not just for the relative quality of these teams compared with England and Argentina, but because the winners of men’s and women’s World Cups and Euros always come from the first semi-final. (I can’t find the statistic but I think it goes back over quite a large number of tournaments.) That must have something to do with the extra day of recovery. So perhaps instead of messing with the number of countries that qualify, Fifa would be better off messing with the schedules of the rounds” – David Wall

“This should be one heck of a game. My only note is that Lucas Digne will always be appreciated by Evertonians after he was unjustly ridden out of town on a rail by Rafa Benitez, and it’s remarkable that he’s starting a World Cup semifinal at the age of 32 after not being selected at all by Didier Deschamps for the 2022 edition. The man can still put a pinpoint cross into the box whenever he wants” – Matt Burtz

“Those who say that there isn’t much between these two sides should apologize to the people of Andorra and try going on a long hike over the Pyrenees” – Peter Oh

So yes, that Euro 2024 semi-final. France are using it as fuel …

… while Spain are drawing strength from it.

France and Spain have only met once before at the World Cup. That was 20 years ago, back in the day when Les Bleus very much had La Roja’s number (the Euro 84 final, the Euro 2000 quarters, all that).

Spain have had the better of the tournament football since. Wins in the Euro 2012 quarters and the Euro 2024 semis, plus an absurd 5-4 victory in last year’s Nations League semis. France did win the 2021 Nations League final, though.

Spain are unchanged following their victory over Belgium. Mikel Merino, match-winning supersub in both of the previous two rounds, once again has to make do with a seat on the bench, while Fabian Ruiz gets the nod ahead of Pedri in midfield.

France make two changes to the team that started the win over Morocco. Aurélien Tchouaméni returns from injury to replace Manu Koné in midfield, while Bradley Barcola comes in for Désiré Doué on the left flank.

This will be France’s eighth semi-final. Their hit rate is pretty good: three losses (against Brazil in 1958 and West Germany in 1982 and 1986) followed by four wins (against Croatia in 1998, Portugal in 2006, Belgium in 2018 and Morocco in 2022).

By contrast, it’s just Spain’s second appearance at this stage, though they can boast a 100-percent record, having seen off Germany in 2010. They also participated in the 1950 final pool, which could have been a damp squib but … wasn’t.

Just the four penalty shoot-outs so far. What price another tonight? And if so … then what?!

Spain really started slowly. That opening goalless draw with Cape Verde, which admittedly doesn’t look so bad in retrospect. They belatedly got going with an easy victory over Saudi Arabia, before knocking out Uruguay. Despite that initial stutter, Spain topped Group H after all.

Onto the knockouts, during which Spain have done enough without ever clicking into top gear … yet … though those no-fuss Mikel Oyarzabal finishes against Austria were delicious.

France made it through Group I without any fuss. They started slowly but eventually surged past Senegal. A two-hour storm break during their meeting with Iraq was like water off a duck’s back. Then they achieved grade A against Norway B.

Onto the knockouts, during which they’ve made their class tell, one way or another. And here we are.

In the beginning … here’s how it all looked at the outset of this epic odyssey. Not so much has changed, bar ever-increasing hope and expectation.