They made history before it started. So they came out and justified every word of it.Lamine Yamal was named Man of the Match as Spain swept aside Austria 3-0 in their Round of 32 match at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood on Friday, securing their place in the Round of 16 for sure. But beyond the limit, the night will be remembered for a record that no Spanish youth has achieved before and which took football back to 1958 to match.Yamal’s Barcelona team-mate Pau Cubarsí became the first teenager to start a World Cup knock-out game for a team since Pelé and José Altafini in 1958 in Brazil against Wales in the quarter-final. Sixty-eight years between those two minutes. The same bravery of youth. Different times.Yamal was everywhere at night. Recovering from a hamstring injury that limited his participation in the squad, the 18-year-old Barcelona winger looked sharp, direct and very confident against an Austrian defender who had no answer to his movement and pace. He was at the heart of several of Spain’s best moments, especially in the first half, to get the crowd of over 70,000 away. The only thing missing from the man’s perfect display was a goal, he came agonizingly close with a shot in the dying minutes that was turned over the line by David Alaba.The goals, when they came, belonged to Mikel Oyarzabal. The Real Sociedad striker found the back of the net with a first-time finish in the 34th minute after excellent play from Pedri and Marc Cucurella, and sealed Spain’s big win after another pass from Cucurella and another cool finish from the Austrian striker. His tally now stands at four in the competition in his last 16 games for Spain.At the other end, Cubarsí was equally dominant. Cubarsí has been part of a Spain defense that has not conceded a goal at this year’s World Cup, with Unai Simón keeping his fourth consecutive clean sheet.Thursday’s result was Spain’s first win at the World Cup since defeating the Netherlands in the 2010 final. After exiting the group stage in 2014 and losing for the first time in 2018 and 2022, the reigning European champions are showing what they can do.In 1958, Pelé and Altafini were young men who helped conquer Brazil. In 2026, Yamal and Cubarsí are just starting and Spain, at the moment, seems ready to follow them to the end.