As La Roja opened their Qatar 2022 campaign in record fashion, Gavi celebrated becoming Spain's youngest player at a major tournament with a goal in a resounding 7-0 victory over Costa Rica.
Spain did not appear to be in any danger after Dani Olmo gave them a lead in the 11th minute, although Spain's rivals in Group E, Germany, suffered a shocking 2-1 defeat to Japan earlier on Wednesday.
La Roja scored its 100th World Cup goal with that strike, and two more came in the first 31 minutes via a Marco Asensio goal and a penalty from Ferran Torres.
Early in the second half, Torres doubled his total, Gavi then drove in a lovely volley, and late in the game, substitutes Carlos Soler and Alvaro Morata added two more goals for Spain's tournament-record victory.
Olmo controlled a deflected Gavi pass and hoisted the ball over Keylor Navas for La Roja's quickest World Cup goal since 2002 as Spain was already comfortably ahead. With less than a quarter of the game gone, Asensio stroked home Jordi Alba's left-sided cross, and Costa Rica found itself two goals behind.
The third goal also featured Alba, who was brought down in the box by a sloppy Oscar Duarte challenge, allowing Torres to put Spain out of reach with a carefree penalty kick.
Following some shoddy Costa Rican defending, Torres slipped the ball under Navas, and Gavi added his name to the scoresheet with an outside-of-the-boot volley off the post. Sixth goal was guided out of Navas' reach by Soler, and Morata, a fellow substitute, swapped passes with Olmo before scoring to cap an outstanding Spain performance.
WHY DOES THAT MATTER? SPAIN PUT ON AN AMAZING PERFORMANCE.
Spain used this opener to put on a show and make a statement after shocking losses to Argentina and group opponents Germany in the first round of games.
This was the 2010 champions' largest World Cup victory ever, scoring seven goals for the first time ever. Costa Rica performed poorly and was only the second team to go the entire game without firing a shot, according to records dating back to 1966. The other team was Costa Rica, who lost to Brazil in 1990.
TRES TORTURES IN COSTA RICA
Torres scored four goals in qualification, which is at least twice as many as any other Spain player, and he carried that momentum into the tournament with his double.
The Barcelona forward joins David Villa and Jose Iraragorri as the only players to score twice on Spain's World Cup debut (vs Brazil in 1934).
GAVI IS ONLY BEHIND PELE.
Gavi (18 years, 110 days) for Spain and Jewison Bennette (18 years, 161 days) for Costa Rica were both selected as their teams' youngest players in a World Cup game.
NEXT, WHAT?
Costa Rica plays Japan on Sunday in the other Group E match, while Spain takes on fellow heavyweights Germany in that contest.
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