FIFA World Cup 2026: Lamine Yamal in elite list with Messi, Pele as Spain fire three past Saudi Arabia in first half

Spain's 18-year-old sensation Lamine Yamal is in the elite list with legends like Argentina icon Lionel Messi and late Brazil legend Pele already, opening the scoring for Spain in their FIFA World Cup match against Saudi Arabia at Atlanta on Sunday.

Having scored in the 11th minute, Yamal, at the age of 18 years and 343 days old, registered his maiden FIFA World Cup goal just 14 days younger than Messi's first FIFA WC goal (at 18 years and 357 days old), as per ESPN.

Also, as per Opta, Yamal is the only second player in FIFA World Cup history aged 18 or younger to have opened the scoring for their country in a match, with the other being a 17-year-old Pele for Brazil against Wales in 1958. Yamal scoring goals is a good omen for Spain, as the data suggests. As per Opta, Spain has never lost the 21 matches in which Lamal has been a part of the starting line-up, winning 15 and drawing six. In these matches, Spain has scored 60 goals, with Yamal having 16 goal involvements (five goals and 11 assists) in them.

Coming to the match, courtesy of an opening goal from Yamal and a brace from Mikel Oyarzabal, Spain was 3-0 up at the end of the third half. Spain started off their campaign with a frustrating goalless draw against debutants Cape Verde.

Lineups: Spain: Unai Simon; Pedro Porro, Pau Cubarsi, Aymeric Laporte, Marc Cucurella; Rodri, Dani Olmo, Pedri; Lamine Yamal, Alex Baena, Mikel Oyarzabal.

Saudi Arabia: Mohammed Alowais; Ali Lajami, Abdulelah Alamri, Hassan Altambakti, Saud Abdulhamid, Moteb Alharbi; Nasser Al-Dawsari, Musab Aljuwayr, Abdullah Alkhaibari; Feras Albrikan, Salem Al-Dawsari. (ANI)