{"id":16212,"date":"2026-07-10T21:59:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T21:59:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=16212"},"modified":"2026-07-10T21:59:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T21:59:20","slug":"chelsea-target-fabian-ruiz-scores-crucial-goal-as-spain-take-early-lead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=16212","title":{"rendered":"Chelsea target Fabian Ruiz scores crucial goal as Spain take early lead"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"article-body\">\n<!-- Article Start --><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"0\"><b data-path-to-node=\"0\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">Fabian Ruiz has given Spain an early lead against Belgium in a high-stakes World Cup 2026 quarter-final clash.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>The opening goal came after a brilliant exchange down the right flank between Pedro Porro and Lamine Yamal.<\/p>\n<p>Visualizing the space perfectly, the Barcelona teenage sensation unlocked the defence by finding Porro with a perfectly weighted through ball.<\/p>\n<p>The Spurs right-back cuts it back first time, finding Dani Olmo, whose shot is saved by Courtois.<\/p>\n<p>However, Courtois could only parry the ball back into the danger zone, and a surging Ruiz was there to tap it in from the rebound.<\/p>\n<p>Spain lead 1-0! Watch the goal below:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-lazy tweet-img lazyload\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">GOAL!<\/p>\n<p>Fabi\u00e1n Ruiz is quickest to react and opens the scoring for Spain at the Los Angeles Stadium!<\/p>\n<p>?? Spain 1-0 Belgium ??#FIFAWorldCup | #Spain <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/6AQs8CYJMw\">pic.twitter.com\/6AQs8CYJMw<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS_EN) July 10, 2026<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h2 data-path-to-node=\"7\">Fabian Ruiz linked with a surprise move to Chelsea<\/h2>\n<p>Ruiz\u2019s stellar performances on the world stage have not gone unnoticed, as rumors begin to swirl regarding his club future.<\/p>\n<p>Reports are emerging that Chelsea are weighing up an ambitious summer swoop for the 30-year-old midfielder.<\/p>\n<p>The Blues are reportedly eager to add experienced quality to their young engine room.<\/p>\n<p>Ruiz was previously linked with Arsenal ahead of the January window while Manchester United have also been linked with him in the past.<\/p>\n<p>While Ruiz remains an important figure at PSG, an impressive conclusion to his World Cup campaign with Spain could accelerate a massive Premier League bid, turning a surprise transfer rumor into one of the biggest stories of the summer window.<\/p>\n<p><!-- Article End -->\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fabian Ruiz has given Spain an early lead against Belgium in a high-stakes World Cup&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16213,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16212"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16212\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}