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It all commenced in Scottish soil and the momentum persists. That memorable evening at Hampden marked merely Luis de la Fuente's second outing as Spain's head coach; many believed it could prove to be his final match in charge. Despite two Scott McTominay goals overcoming La Furia Roja, whereas almost all spectators expected his tenure would be short-lived, De la Fuente talked about a route opening - and interestingly, the man previously criticized of living in Disneyland turned out right.

Three years and later, Spain advanced extremely close of World Cup qualification, while simultaneously achieving their 29th straight official game unbeaten, equaling the historic record.

Pedri's Influence and Decisive Contribution

During an evening when Pedri featured and Mikel Merino made the difference, Spain overcame Bulgaria four-nil to accumulate a perfect dozen from twelve in qualifying, edging closer. The Arsenal midfielder and occasional striker scored the opening two goals and could have earned his second consecutive hat-trick in three recent Spain appearances but when fouled in the final minute, he generously handed the penalty to Mikel Oyarzabal instead.

Thus it was La Real striker, goal-getter of the winning goal in the Euro 2024 showpiece, who maintained the impressive sequence, equaling what Vicente del Bosque's legendary squad accomplished between 2010 and 2013.

Record Equaled

Now, you might have observed the symbol, and correctly so. Although FIFA might not classify it as a loss, during this remarkable run Spain did lose once – 7-5 on penalties to Portugal in the Nations League final back in June. Yet officially at least, this current team has matched that historic squad against which all Spanish national teams are compared.

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 head toward 2026 ranked number one, among the favorites once more, reminiscent of previous eras.

Complete Domination

This was "only" against Bulgaria, it is true, similar to previous encounters against Georgia, Bulgaria, and Turkey but that's four victories from four outings, combined score fifteen-zero. Occurred two moments immediately after La Selección scored their opening goals – the third being an own goal – but ultimately their rivals had not been permitted a solitary shot on target.

The total count showed: thirty-three to three, Spain demonstrably being Spain. Bulgaria's coach had confessed the sole objective his team could have was to hold out as long as possible. As it turned out, that defensive effort lasted thirty-three minutes, and Merino's header constituted Spain's eighteenth attempt on target already.

Midfield Brilliance

The display was about all of them, but at the core of it was Pedri, ubiquitous and nowhere simultaneously: everywhere for Spain, nowhere for Bulgaria, unable to detect him as he darted through their defense. He completed one hundred and one passes by the time he was withdrawn to a standing ovation on 66 minutes, and his were the instances of utmost subtlety, the finest touches and the sharpest as well.

When the Valladolid stadium sang his name during the opening period, he had just drifted unnoticed into the penalty box again, dinking his shot over Svetoslav Vutsov and onto the woodwork, but it was not only that. He had already floated a magnificent pass into Álex Baena to volley wide and pulled another back from which Baena was denied.

Continued Pressure

An cleverly weighted delivery had created opportunity for Samu Aghehowa up for what ought to have been the first goal, and a precise pass saw Oyarzabal mishit his attempt. He got a chance of his own only to fail to find a clean connection, volleying wide.

But then, shortly after, he delivered another ball in. This time Robin Le Normand nodded across and Merino directed in. Spain, who had eighty-eight percent of the ball, 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.

Brief Resistance

But then in part it's the unpredictability, even the injustice, that makes football special. And the first time Bulgaria advanced into Spain's half they might have equalized, Kiril Despodov suddenly breaking away and striking the side-netting.

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

Closing Stages

As they had after the first goal, Bulgaria survived once more, Despodov played through and sending his and their second shot wide and yet the initial instance the visitors had a shot on target it was at the incorrect goal, Atanas Chernev deflecting into his own net. Still it was not quite done, Merino kicked in the shins and stepping aside to let Oyarzabal blast in the 99th goal of De la Fuente's continuing reign.