It started in Scotland and it still hasn’t 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 the World Cup, and also racked up their 29th consecutive competitive game unbeaten*, equalling the 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 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 final of the Nations League back in June. Yet officially at least, this team has matched that one against which all Spain sides are measured. Win in Georgia in a month and the record will be theirs alone. 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 2026 ranked No. 1, among the favourites again, just like old times.
