Lamine Yamal says he feels like Superman or Spider-Man sometimes, and Spain’s fans are starting to feel the same way about him. There is something comic book hero about what the teenager is doing right now, some super power swelling inside the nineteen-year-old. For the third consecutive game he scored inside six minutes, curling in another outrageous goal as Spain completed their World Cup homecoming in Oviedo with a 3-1 win over Czechia that leaves them a single point from the Nations League quarter finals already.
And yet in a game which seemed to have been done at half-time, when Spain led 2-0 after Rodrigo Hernandez had added the second and Lamine Yamal was withdrawn, the world champions were closer to not winning than they could have imagined. Czechia, vastly improved after the break, pulled one back through Jiri Slama on 69 and then were denied an 80th-minute equaliser when Vassilis Fotias, the referee, harshly ruled out a Ryan Naderi goal – apparently for a foul on Robin Le Normand as the free-kick that led to it was swung in.
Then with two minutes left, Mikel Merino made it safe; the seleccion’s first visit to the Carlos Tartiere in eleven years had ended the way they had hoped. Welcomed back as World and European champions once more, they were applauded off as winners again. A night that had begun with Rodri being presented with the World Cup by Santi Cazorla and Juan Mata, academy products at Real Oviedo and members of the generation to which all others would forever be compared, ended with more nerves than anticipated when it started in a way that has become implausibly, absurdly familiar.
Lamine Yamal had scored after just 104 seconds at Wembley and 70 in Seville, as Spain defeated England and Croatia. And the ridiculous thing was that here, his goal might have come even sooner. Fifteen seconds in, the first frisson of excitement went round this place as he chased down the goalkeeper and after just fifty-seven it almost exploded. But, running on to a Dani Olmo pass, he calmly guided a shot past the goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky … and past the post.
He would just have to wait until the fifth minute was up instead. The goal would have been astonishing only you may have seen this one before. Playing a quick one-two with Dani Olmo, he took possession on the top right corner of the area and curled another outrageous shot into the far corner. They had been playing five minutes 20 seconds, another ground letting out a roar that spoke of delight but also a kind of disbelief. It had taken him 320 seconds, or 494 seconds to score three.
Spain weren’t hurrying but they were controlling, and the chances were accumulating too: by half-time they had taken thirteen shots to one, and enjoyed 70% of possession. They had also added a second on 32 minutes. Rodri collected near the centre circle and did something he rarely does. The man who sometimes seems to be walking, effortless controlling the game with his mind and without fuss, happy enough to drop the ball off to others and let them do their thing, went off on a run. Advancing through the midfield, he slotted on to the path of Pedri whose return, with the help of a touch off the defender, set him up to shoot high into the net.
Next Lamine Yamal slipped in Baena, denied by Kinsky. A little dinked pass from Baena then found Lamine whose shot, slightly scuffed, went wide. At the break Baena, who had drawn “oohs” from the stands with one glorious touch, was withdrawn, and so too was Lamine Yamal, his work here done, another show over. The game, on the other hand, was not. That at least was Czechia’s intention; it should probably have been their reward too, the visitors taking a decisive step forward and a degree of control. They also reduced the deficit with twenty minutes to go.
The move began deep: as they progressed up the right and through the middle, Jiri Slama was sprinting to catch up. Adam Hlozek saw him coming and rolled the ball into his path for him to steer it low and true beyond David Raya.
A first error from Spain’s keeper almost gave Czechia an equaliser when Raya stepped out to play and his misplaced pass only found Ondrej Lingr, and a second error really should have done soon after. But if there was relief for Spain when Lingrs shot drifted wide of an unguarded goal, it was even greater when the referee ruled out Ryan Nadel’s effort.
For Czechia there was disbelief. Michael Sadilek’s long cross had been headed goalwards by Ladislav Krejci, and Raya, reaching by the bar, could not hold on. The ball dropped on the line, where Nadel nudged it in. The referee though had blown. On the touchline, for Santi Denia it was hard to take and it was equally difficult not to feel sympathy too. All the more when Krejci was soon sent off and then Munoz dashed into the area where Kinsky blocked him and Merino finished off.
