Merino double sparks Spain’s run of goals in domination of Bulgaria

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.

This was “only” Bulgaria, it is true, just as it was only Georgia, Bulgaria, and Turkey before them but that’s four wins out of four, aggregate score 15-0. There were two moments immediately after the seleccion got their first two goals – the third was an own goal – but ultimately their opponents had not been allowed a single shot on target. The total count ran: 33-3, Spain recognisably Spain. Bulgaria’s coach had admitted the only objective his team could have was to hold out as long as they could. As it turned out, that was 33 minutes, and Merino’s header was Spain’s 18th attempt on target already.

Mikel Oyarzabal scores from the penalty spot. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

This was about all of them, but at the heart of it was Pedri, everywhere and nowhere at once: everywhere for Spain, nowhere for Bulgaria, unable to detect him as he flitted through them. He completed 101 passes by the time he was withdrawn to a standing ovation on 66 minutes, and his were the moments of greatest subtlety, the finest touches and the most incisive too.

When the José Zorrilla chanted his name midway the opening period, he had just slipped unnoticed into the area again, dinking his shot over Svetoslav Vutsov and onto the bar, but it was not only that. He had already lifted a gorgeous pass into Álex Baena to volley wide and pulled another back from which Baena was blocked. A disguised delivery had set Samu Aghehowa up for what should have been the opener, and a neat lay-off saw Oyarzabal scuff his shot.

He got a chance of his own only to fail to find a clean connection, volleying wide. But then, almost immediately after, he floated another ball in. This time Robin Le Normand nodded across and Merino headed in. Spain, who had 88% of the possession, now had the lead. The heat map looked like they had run out of spray paint half way through and a moment later Aghehowa might have made it two. But then in part it’s the unpredictability, even the injustice, that makes football great. And the first time Bulgaria got into Spain’s half they might have equalised, Kiril Despodov suddenly sprinting away and hitting the side-netting.

Introduced for Aghehowa at the break, Borja Iglesias had three chances in as many minutes before Merino did it again. The cross from the left was superb from Álex Grimaldo and there, leaping above everyone, was Merino to power the header down and dash off to do laps round the corner flag.

As they had done after the opener, Bulgaria escaped again, Despodov played through and putting his and their second shot wide and yet the first time the visitors had a shot on target it was at the wrong end, Atanas Chernev turning into his own net. Still it was not quite done, Merino kicked in the shins and stepping aside to let Oyarzabal smash in the 99th goal of De la Fuente’s ongoing reign.