Lamine Yamal completed a good opening day of the World Cup qualifier with Spain. The winger of FC Barcelona gave the assist that settled the match for La Roja in Bulgaria (0-3), in a comfortable victory for Luis de la Fuente's team.
Four of the six 'culés' called up saw minutes in Sofia, with Pedri the only starter along with Lamine. The Canary Islander played the 90 minutes, while the player from Mataró came off in the 79th minute for debutant Jesús Rodríguez. The 'culé' midfielder completed the highest number of passes (120) in the match, while the '19' was the leader in successful dribbles (7).
Comfortable victory for Spain in their debut in the qualifier
Spain opened the scoring in the 5th minute with a goal from Mikel Oyarzabal. The play was started by Lamine with a run down the right. The winger passed the ball to Pedri and he extended it to Martín Zubimendi, who caught Oyarzabal in a shooting position, enabling him with a filtered pass.
Bulgaria tried to react in the 21st minute with a shot from Kirilov against the post, but Marc Cucurella, in the 30th minute, would extend the lead to practically settle the match. Yamal tried to enable Oyarzabal with a cross from the side, but the Bulgarian defense cleared it halfway.
The rebound fell to Cucurella and the Chelsea full-back took advantage to unleash a crossed shot, unstoppable for goalkeeper Vutsov. In the 39th minute, the third and final goal of La Roja would arrive, this time with an assist from the '10' of Barça.
Lamine again sent a cross into the heart of the area from the side, this time directly to the head of Mikel Merino. The Arsenal midfielder, with a header downwards, scored the 0-3. Before the break, the National Team already had the three points in their pocket.
Dani Olmo and Pau Cubarsí also added minutes in Bulgaria
At halftime, De la Fuente sent Pau Cubarsí onto the field in place of Robin Le Normand. Bulgaria barely appeared in the rival half in the second half, retreating near their area to avoid a greater punishment in the result.
Lamine Yamal was close to scoring in the 48th minute, but failed in the control prior to the one-on-one with Vutsov and the goalkeeper narrowed quickly to prevent the winger's shot on goal.
Spain continued to damage the local defense thanks to the overflows of the '19' and Nico Williams, but the posts and the lack of aim of the National Team's forwards prevented a greater difference in the score. Dani Olmo entered for Nico in the 70th minute and was very active along with Mikel Merino, but the 0-3 remained until the end.
For the internationals of Barça, Ferran Torres and Fermín López remained on the bench. Gavi, meanwhile, was out as a precaution after the knee injury he suffered in a training session prior to the trip to Vallecas with the 'culés'.
Spain, thanks to the victory, leads Group E along with Turkey. La Roja will visit the Ottoman team next Sunday (20:45 CEST), seeking their second victory in the city of Konya. The qualifier will continue in mid-October and ends in mid-November.