It started in Scotland and it still has not finished yet. That night at Hampden was only Luis de le Fuente’s second as Spain coach; it also felt like it might be his last. Two Scott McTominay goals defeated the Seleccion but while just about everyone else thought his spell would be brief, he was talking about a pathway opening and here’s the thing: the man accused of living in Disneyland back then was right. Three years and four days later, Spain moved to within touching distance of the World Cup by racking up their 29th consecutive competitive game unbeaten*, equalling their record.
On a night when Pedri played and Mikel Merino made the difference, Spain beat Bulgaria 4-0 to take them to 12 points from 12 in qualifying, close now. The Arsenal midfielder and sometime striker scored the first two and might even have got his second hat-trick in three Spain games but when he was fouled in the last minute he handed the penalty to Mikel Oyarzabal instead. And so it was the Real Sociedad striker, scorer of the winner at the final of Euro 2024, who kept the sequence going, equalling what Vicente del Bosque’s golden generation did between 2010 and 2013.
Now, you may have noticed the asterisk there, and rightly. FIFA might not count it as a defeat, but in this run Spain did lose once – 7-5 on penalties to Portugal in the Nations League final in June. Yet officially at least, this team has matched that one against which all Spain sides are measured. En route they won the Nations League in 2023, the European Championships in 2024 and reached a Nations League final in 2025; they head towards the 2026 World Cup ranked No. 1, among the favourites just like old times.
This was “only” Bulgaria, it is true, just as it was only Georgia, Bulgaria, and Turkey before them but that’s four wins out of four, aggregate score 15-0. There were two briefly concerning moments immediately after the Seleccion got their first two – the third was an own goal – but ultimately their opponents were not allowed a single shot on target. The total count ran: 33-3, Spain recognisably Spain. Bulgaria’s coach admitted the only objective was to hold out as long as they could. As it turned out, that was 33 minutes, and Merino’s header was Spain’s 18th attempt on target already.
This was about all of them, the strength in depth striking now, but at the heart of it was Pedri. The Barcelona midfielder was everywhere and nowhere at once: everywhere for Spain, nowhere for Bulgaria, unable to detect him flitting through them. He completed 101 passes by the time he was withdrawn to a standing ovation on 66 minutes, and his were the moments of greatest subtlety, the finest touches and the most incisive too.
When the José Zorrilla chanted his name midway through the opening period, he had just slipped unnoticed into the area again, dinking over Svetoslav Vutsov and onto the bar, but it was not only that. He had also already lifted a gorgeous pass into Álex Baena to volley wide and pulled another back from which Baena was blocked. A disguised delivery had set up Samu Aghehowa for what should have been the first, and a neat lay-off saw Oyarzabal scuff his shot. He got a chance of his own only to slice his volley but then, almost immediately after, he floated another ball in that started it all.
This time Robin Le Normand nodded back across and Merino headed home. Spain, who had 88% of the possession, now had the lead. The heat map looked like they had run out of spray paint half way through and a moment later Aghehowa might have made it two. But then in part it is the unpredictability, even the injustice, that makes football great. And the first time Bulgaria escaped into Spain’s half they might have equalised, Kiril Despodov suddenly sprinting away and hitting the side-netting.
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Spain carried on regardless. Introduced at the break, Borja Iglesias had three chances in as many minutes before Merino did it again. The cross from the left was superb from Álex Grimaldo and there, leaping above everyone, was Merino to power the header down and dash off to do laps round the corner flag celebrating his eighth goal in his last eight internationals.
As had happened after the opener, Despodov escaped again to miss a good chance yet the visitors’ sole shot on target was at the wrong end, Atanas Chernev turning into his own net on 79 minutes. And still it was not quite done, Merino kicked in the shins and stepping aside, allowing Oyarzabal to smash in the 99th goal of De la Fuente’s ongoing reign.
