Lamine Yamal joins Pele: Barcelona’s Spanish teenagers are rewriting the World Cup history books in style

In a historic moment, Spain saw young talents Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsí become the first teenage pair to open a World Cup knockout match since the legendary Pelé and Altafini in 1958. (AP Photo) They made history before the start. Then they came out and justified his every word.Lamine Yamal was named man of the match as Spain thrashed Austria 3-0 in their round of 32 match at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood on Friday to book their place in the last eight in emphatic fashion. But beyond the scoreline, the night will be remembered as a record that no pair of Spanish teenagers had ever managed to achieve before, and one that took football until 1958 to match.Yamal and Barcelona teammate Pau Cubarsí became the first pair of teenagers to start a World Cup knockout match for a team since Pelé and José Altafini in 1958 for Brazil against Wales in the quarter-finals. Sixty-eight years between those two moments. The same adolescent insolence. A completely different time.Yamal was everywhere at night. The 18-year-old Barcelona winger, recovering from a hamstring injury that limited his involvement during the group stage, looked sharp, direct and confident against an Austrian backline that simply had no answer to his movement and pace. He was at the heart of some of Spain’s best moments, particularly in the first half, lifting the pro-Spain crowd of more than 70,000. A goal was missing from an almost perfect individual performance, which came agonizingly close in the last minutes with a shot that David Alaba saved on the line.When the goals came, they belonged to Mikel Oyarzabal. The Real Sociedad forward found the net for the first time with his first finish in the 34th minute after some great play involving Pedri and Marc Cucurella, capping Spain’s dominant win after another cross from Cucurella and another superb finish past the Austrian goalkeeper. His tally now stands at four goals at this tournament in his last 16 starts for Spain.At the other end was the equally commanding Cubarsí. Cubarsí was part of a Spain defense that has yet to score a goal at this year’s World Cup, with Unai Simón keeping a fourth straight clean sheet.Thursday’s result was Spain’s first knockout win at the World Cup since they beat the Netherlands in the 2010 final. After group stage exits in 2014 and first-round knockout defeats in 2018 and 2022, the reigning European champions are finally showing what they’re really capable of.In 1958, Pelé and Altafini were teenagers who helped Brazil conquer the world. In 2026, Yamal and Cubarsí are just getting started and right now Spain is poised to follow them to the finals.