Lamine Yamal’s return sparked Spain’s World Cup into life as the European champions ran riot to beat Saudi Arabia 4-0 in Atlanta on Sunday.
Making his first start in two months after a hamstring injury, Yamal ended La Roja’s long wait for a World Cup goal just 10 minutes in.
Mikel Oyarzabal then struck twice to put Luis de la Fuente’s men 3-0 up inside 24 minutes.
De la Fuente’s careful management of Yamal’s minutes continued as the Barcelona superstar was replaced at half-time before Hassan al-Tambakti’s own goal rounded off the scoring.
“We had to recover good feelings, correct a few things from the last game, but we need to keep improving if we want to achieve our target of getting to the final on July 19,” said De la Fuente.
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Victory propels Spain to the top of Group H ahead of Uruguay’s meeting with Cape Verde later on Sunday.
The pressure is now on coach Georgios Donis to deliver in Saudi Arabia’s final group game against Cape Verde in Houston.
Victory will likely take the Arabian Falcons into the knockout stages for the first time since the World Cup was last in the United States 32 years ago.
Spain travel to Guadalajara next for the final group game against two-time winners Uruguay on Friday.
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