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Lamine Yamal continued his remarkable rise on football’s biggest stage, becoming one of the youngest goalscorers in FIFA World Cup history as Spain thrashed Saudi Arabia 4-0 in their Group H clash on Sunday.

The 18-year-old forward opened the scoring in the 10th minute, calmly finishing from close range after being set up by Mikel Oyarzabal. At 18 years and 343 days old, Yamal became the eighth-youngest player ever to score at a FIFA World Cup.

The goal also placed him alongside some of the sport’s biggest names. Yamal scored his first World Cup goal 14 days younger than Lionel Messi was when the Argentine netted his maiden World Cup strike. He also became only the second player aged 18 or younger to score the opening goal for his country in a World Cup match, matching a feat achieved only by Pele for Brazil in 1958.

Spain, held to a goalless draw by Cabo Verde in their opening fixture, responded emphatically. Oyarzabal doubled the lead in the 21st minute before adding his second goal three minutes later after a clever assist from Dani Olmo.

Saudi Arabia struggled to cope with Spain’s attacking movement throughout the first half, with Oyarzabal coming close to completing a hat-trick before the interval when his effort struck the crossbar.

The contest was effectively settled four minutes after the restart. A dangerous ball into the area from Marc Cucurella deflected off defender Hassan Altambakti and ended up in the net for an own goal, giving Spain a 4-0 advantage.

Spain comfortably controlled possession for the remainder of the match and introduced several substitutes as Saudi Arabia failed to mount a response. Ferran Torres had a late goal ruled out for offside following a VAR review, but it did little to affect the outcome.

The victory lifted Spain to the top of Group H with four points from two matches, putting their World Cup campaign firmly back on track after an underwhelming start.