Spain finally broke through in the World Cup final thanks to Ferran Torres, with Nico Williams setting it up after nearly two hours of Emiliano Martínez refusing to let anything past him.

But while everyone else was focused on the goal that decided it, there was something else quietly becoming impossible to ignore. Every time Lamine Yamal starts for Spain in a major tournament, they win.

That’s not an exaggeration. It’s not a hot streak. It’s just what keeps happening.

Thirteen starts. Thirteen wins. Six starts at the Euros ended with a trophy. Seven more at the World Cup brought another one home.

It doesn’t really matter who’s on the other side either. Saudi Arabia, Uruguay, Austria, Portugal, Belgium, France, Argentina — Spain always finds a way to get the job done when Yamal starts.

The only match they didn’t win this tournament came right at the beginning, a scoreless draw with Cape Verde when Yamal was still easing back from the hamstring injury that cut short his Barcelona season. He only played the last 19 minutes. Once he was back in the lineup against Saudi Arabia, he scored in a 4-0 win and Spain never looked back.

And somehow, all of this is coming from a player who hadn’t even turned 19 until a few days before the final.

One Goal, Zero Assists, Seven Wins

The best part of this streak is that Yamal’s World Cup numbers don’t really look like those of somebody who controlled an entire tournament.

He finished with one goal and no assists. He wasn’t Spain’s leading scorer. He didn’t create the winner against Portugal, Belgium, or Argentina. If all you saw was the final box score after every match, it would be easy to think he was simply a gifted teenager riding along with the best team in the world.

Watching Spain for five minutes killed that idea.

Yamal came into the final having completed a tournament-high 30 dribbles. Every touch on the right side forced the defense to make a choice they didn’t want to make. A left back could step out and risk being beaten. A midfielder could slide over and leave Dani Olmo or Pedri with more room inside. A second defender could help, which opened the outside lane for Pedro Porro. Staying home only gave Yamal time to get onto his left foot and pick out the next pass.

Spain’s attack kept changing around whatever answer the opponent chose.

That’s why Yamal could go through an entire World Cup with no assists and still be one of its most influential attacking players. He created the space that made everything else possible.

In the semifinal, France tried beating him up with physicality, throwing bodies his way all night. It didn’t work. Lucas Digne still got caught out and hacked Yamal down in the box for Spain’s opening penalty. A razor-thin offside call wiped away a gorgeous curling goal of his own, and his presence out wide kept Digne pinned right before Pedro Porro cut inside to bury Spain’s second.

When Luis de la Fuente said Yamal "generated a lot of fear" after the Portugal match, he hit the nail on the head. That’s really the cleanest way to sum up his tournament. Fear doesn't register on a stat sheet next to goals and assists, but it completely changes how an opponent has to defend you.

Argentina found that out five minutes into the final. Yamal worked a slick give-and-go with Dani Olmo to carve out the match’s first real chance, forcing Emi Martínez into a quick adjustment save off a deflection. Later on, he floated a gorgeous cross for Ferran Torres that needed another tough save, and right before stoppage time, he curled a free kick around the wall to force Martínez’s record-setting 10th save of the night.

Think about that for a second: Argentina went the entire 90 minutes of regulation without attempting a single shot, while Spain generated 15. Yamal didn’t end up on the scoresheet, but he drove that suffocating pressure from the opening whistle to the final whistle. Even when the match turned into a crowded, physical grind, Argentina couldn't breathe whenever the ball swung to his side of the field.

Spain’s Dividing Line

This whole thing really traces back to Euro 2024, when Yamal was somehow even younger and already casually controlling matches on this scale.

He became the youngest player ever to play in the Euros, set up Dani Carvajal against Croatia, dropped assists against Georgia and Germany, and then hit that absurd equalizer against France. He finished the tournament with four assists, grabbed Young Player of the Tournament honors, and set up Nico Williams’ opener in the final against England.

Spain didn’t lose a single match he started.

Two years later, his World Cup looked different on paper. He came in dealing with injuries and didn’t pile up flashy goals or assists. Instead, he pulled defenders out of position and took guys on 1-v-1 to consistently create chances.

The result never changed.

Yamal became the third-youngest player to appear in a World Cup final, behind only Pelé and Giuseppe Bergomi. He’s now won the European Championship and World Cup before his 20th birthday.

Of course, a winger doesn’t go unbeaten in 13 major tournament starts by himself. Spain allowed just one goal during this entire World Cup. Rodri controlled the middle, Pau Cubarsí and Aymeric Laporte erased nearly everything behind him, and a bench loaded with Williams, Torres, Mikel Merino, and Pedri eventually wore Argentina down.

But thirteen starts into his major tournament career, nobody’s figured out how to beat him.

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