They made history before kickoff. So they went out and justified every word.Lamine Yamal was named Man of the Match as Spain defeated Austria 3-0 in their last-32 clash at Inglewood’s SoFi Stadium on Friday, booking their place in the Round of 16 in emphatic fashion. But beyond the scoreline, the night will be remembered for a record that no pair of Spanish teenagers had ever achieved before and one that took football until 1958 to find a comparison.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 audacity of a teenager. It was completely different.Yamal was everywhere in the night. Recovering from a hamstring injury that had limited his participation during the group stage, the 18-year-old Barcelona winger looked strong, direct and full of confidence against an Austrian backline that simply had no answer for his movement and pace. He was at the heart of many of Spain’s best moments, particularly in the first half, getting the pro-Spain crowd of over 70,000 off their feet. The only thing missing from an almost perfect individual display was a goal, he came agonizingly close with a shot in the dying minutes that was cleared on the line by David Alaba.The goals, when they came, belonged to Mikel Oyarzabal. The Real Sociedade striker first found the back of the net with a first-time strike in the 34th minute after some fine build-up play involving Pedri and Marc Cucurella, and put the lid on Spain’s dominant win after another Cucurella cross and another cool finish past the Austrian goalkeeper. His tally now stands at four goals in this tournament in his last 16 starts for Spain.At the other end, Cubarsí was equally commanding. Cubarsí was part of a Spanish defense that has yet to allow a goal at this year’s World Cup, with Unai Simón keeping his fourth consecutive clean sheet.Thursday’s result is Spain’s first knockout win at the World Cup since they beat the Netherlands in the 2010 final. After group stage defeats in 2014 and first-round 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 conquer the world for Brazil. In 2026, Yamal and Cubarsí have just begun and Spain, now, seems ready to follow it to the end.