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It all commenced in Scottish soil and the momentum remains unbroken. That fateful night at Hampden represented merely Luis de la Fuente's second outing as Spain's head coach; many believed it might prove to be his last assignment. Although a pair of Scott McTominay goals defeating La Furia Roja, whereas virtually everyone expected his spell would be short-lived, the coach spoke about a pathway opening - and remarkably, the manager previously criticized of living in Disneyland proved right.

36 months and later, Spain moved extremely close of global football participation, and also achieving their twenty-ninth straight competitive game unbeaten, equaling the legendary record.

Pedri's Influence and Merino's Impact

On a night when Pedri featured and Mikel Merino created the decisive impact, Spain overcame Bulgaria 4-0 to secure a perfect dozen from 12 in qualifying, edging closer. The Arsenal midfielder and sometime striker netted the first two goals and could have earned his second consecutive hat-trick in three recent Spain matches but when fouled in the closing minute, he generously handed the spot-kick to Mikel Oyarzabal instead.

Therefore it was La Real striker, scorer of the decisive goal in the Euro 2024 final, who continued the remarkable sequence, matching what Vicente del Bosque's legendary squad achieved between 2010 and 2013.

Record Equaled

Currently, readers may have noticed the asterisk, and correctly so. Although FIFA may not classify it as a defeat, during this impressive run Spain actually lose once – 7-5 on penalties to Portugal in the Nations League final back in June. However formally at least, this current team has equaled that legendary team against which all Spanish sides are measured.

Victory in Georgia in a month and the achievement will be exclusively theirs. Along the way they won the Nations League in 2023, the European Championships in 2024 and advanced to a Nations League final in 2025; they approach 2026 sitting number one, among the favorites once more, just like old times.

Total Control

This was "only" versus Bulgaria, it is true, just as previous matches against Georgia, Bulgaria, and Turkey but that's four victories from four, combined score fifteen-zero. There were two moments immediately after La Selección obtained their first two goals – the third being an own goal – but eventually their opponents had not been permitted a solitary shot on target.

Overall count read: 33-3, Spain demonstrably being Spain. Bulgaria's coach had admitted the only objective his team could have was to resist as long as they could. Ultimately, that resistance lasted 33 minutes, and Merino's header constituted Spain's eighteenth attempt on target already.

Midfield Brilliance

This performance was about the entire team, but at the heart of it was Pedri, ubiquitous and nowhere at once: present for Spain, nowhere for Bulgaria, incapable to track him as he flitted through their defense. He executed one hundred and one passes by the time he was withdrawn to a standing ovation on the sixty-sixth minute, and his were the instances of utmost subtlety, the most exquisite touches and the most incisive as well.

When the Valladolid stadium chanted his name midway the first half, he had just drifted unnoticed into the area once more, chipping his shot over Svetoslav Vutsov and onto the crossbar, but it was not only that. He had already floated a gorgeous pass into Álex Baena to strike wide and delivered an additional back from which Baena was blocked.

Sustained Attack

An cleverly weighted delivery had set Samu Aghehowa up for what should have been the first goal, and a neat lay-off saw Oyarzabal mishit his shot. He received a chance of his own only to fail to find a proper 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 ball, now had the lead. The positioning chart appeared like they had exhausted supply of marking paint half way through and a little later Aghehowa might have made it two-nil.

Brief Resistance

But then in part it's the unpredictability, even the injustice, that makes football special. And the first time Bulgaria got into Spain's half they might have equalized, Kiril Despodov abruptly breaking away and hitting the outside of the net.

Introduced for Aghehowa at the break, Borja Iglesias had multiple chances in as many minutes before Merino scored once more. The delivery from the left was superb from Álex Grimaldo and there, jumping above all defenders, was Merino to power the header downward and dash off to do laps around the flagpost.

Closing Stages

Similar to their reaction after the opener, Bulgaria escaped again, Despodov sent through and putting his and their second shot wide and yet the first time the away team 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 fouled in the legs and stepping aside to let Oyarzabal blast in the ninety-ninth goal of De la Fuente's ongoing reign.