Spain goalkeeper Unai Simon raced off his line to beat a surging Kylian Mbappe to the ball as France pushed desperately for a way back into Tuesday's World Cup semifinals.
Simon got there first, heading the ball clear, but briefly found himself stranded outside his penalty area with the World Cup's co-leading scorer behind him and France forward Desire Doue closing in on the loose ball.
Even in that frantic late sequence, Spain's disciplined defense and Simon's composure held firm, denying France the breakthrough it desperately needed.
Spain secured a 2-0 victory to reach its first World Cup final since lifting the trophy in 2010. The clean sheet was Spain's tournament-leading sixth of the expanded 48-team World Cup, underlining the defensive resilience that has powered its run to the final.
After the ball went directly to Doue off Simon's header, the goalkeeper frantically sprinted back. Simon managed to turn his body, get his back to the net and make a leaping, no-hands deflection on the edge of the penalty area. He then took several strides before finally falling on the ball.
The latest shutout for Simon and Spain came against FIFA's top-ranked team, with Mbappe entering the match with 20 goals in 20 World Cup games. The France captain won the Golden Boot in 2022, and his eight goals in this year's tournament are tied with Argentina great Lionel Messi, the all-time World Cup scoring leader with 21.
"We are very happy with the work that the team has done. Today we knew it would be a very complicated game with spectacular players, but I think we have them, too," Spain defender Pau Cubarsi said in translated remarks. "We are a great family. We have helped each other for 90 minutes. We have pressed as never before."
Mbappe had only three shots Tuesday, none of them on target. France created no major scoring threats while missing out on a chance to become only the third team to reach three consecutive World Cup finals.
"Spain has been able to defend well. I've watched all of their matches, and today they've done it very well," France coach Didier Deschamps said. "They've closed all the spaces, and we've also made some technical mistakes. It is difficult to create problems when the technical level is below standard, especially compared with previous matches."
The only goal Simon has allowed in this tournament was Belgium's equalizer in the 41st minute of Spain's 2-1 quarterfinal victory. That snapped his World Cup record of 650 consecutive scoreless minutes.
Tuesday's semifinal was played at the home of the NFL's Dallas Cowboys, where Spain beat Portugal 1-0 in the round of 16 eight days earlier for its record sixth consecutive World Cup match without conceding a goal. That included Simon stopping two shots by 41-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo, who was playing in the last of his six World Cups.
Spain's World Cup shutout streak broke a tie with Italy (1990) and Switzerland (2006-10). It began with a scoreless draw in the round of 16 in 2022, when Morocco advanced on penalties, and included a surprising 0-0 draw against Cape Verde in this year's tournament.
Simon surpassed the previous record of 517 consecutive scoreless minutes during Spain's 3-0 victory over Austria to open the knockout stage.
