Lamine Yamal emulates Brazilian legend Pelé with first World Cup goal for Spain
Lamine Yamal scored his first World Cup goal for Spain, becoming the second youngest player to score in a World Cup match, emulating Pelé's historic achievement.
Young phenomenon Lamine Yamal left his mark on football history by scoring a stunning goal for Spain against Saudi Arabia this Sunday at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The Barcelona striker scored in the 10th minute, aged 18 years and 343 days, becoming only the second player under 18 to score the opening goal in a World Cup match. The only previous player to reach this milestone was Pelé, who scored the first goal for Brazil against Wales during the 1958 tournament in Sweden.
After a disappointing 1-1 draw in the opening game against Cape Verde, Spain coach Luis de la Fuente decided to change the starting formation and include Yamal on the right wing. The young striker had recovered from a thigh injury suffered in April, which limited his participation to one substitute appearance in the opening match.
The goal that opened the scoring occurred quickly, after a goal kick from Saudi Arabia. The ball was passed to Mikel Oyarzabal, who was on the left side of the box. Oyarzabal crossed accurately to the far post, where Yamal, anticipating the pass, made a run into the box and, sliding, managed to place the ball in a narrow space, beating Saudi goalkeeper Mohammed Al-Owais, thus registering his first World Cup goal on his tournament debut.
With Yamal's goal, Spain became the first team in history to have two players aged 18 or under score in a World Cup. The first time this happened was with Gavi, who scored against Costa Rica in 2022 (18 years and 110 days).
After Lamine's goal, Oyarzabal scored two more goals before the 25th minute, the second being assisted by Dani Olmo himself, putting La Roja in a comfortable 3-0 lead, in search of their first victory of the tournament. It is a poetic beauty to emulate the great King of Football, but it is clear that Lamine is firmly carving out his own legacy.
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