Spain march on as Mikel Oyarzabal fires Austria out of World Cup

Mikel Oyarzabal was the star of the night, scoring twice and continuing his outstanding international form. The forward has now been directly involved in 24 goals across his last 16 appearances for Spain.

Both teams made an energetic start, creating openings in the opening minutes. Lamine Yamal tested Austria goalkeeper Alexander Schlager early on, while Austria also threatened on the counter-attack whenever they won possession.

Spain gradually took control of the contest and began to dominate possession and territory. Aymeric Laporte came close from a series of corners before Marc Cucurella thought he had given Spain the lead. However, his strike was ruled out after the referee judged there had been a foul on Schlager in the build-up.

Austria's goalkeeper continued to keep his side in the match with excellent saves to deny both Oyarzabal and Yamal. His resistance was finally broken just before half-time when Cucurella delivered a precise pass for Oyarzabal, who calmly finished to give Spain a deserved lead.

Spain nearly doubled their advantage before the interval as Alex Baena struck the crossbar with a superb free-kick, while Yamal was unable to force home the rebound during a scramble in the penalty area.

The second half followed a similar pattern, with Spain controlling possession and creating the better chances. Austria briefly threatened when substitute Sasa Kalajdzic headed narrowly over the crossbar, but they struggled to build sustained pressure.

Spain effectively secured victory when Pedro Porro rose highest to head home Baena's cross, scoring his first international goal to make it 2-0.

Yamal came close to adding another goal, only for David Alaba to clear his effort off the line. Oyarzabal then completed the scoring in the closing minutes, meeting another excellent delivery from Cucurella to seal a convincing victory.

Spain now move on to the knockout stage, where they will face the winners of Portugal against Croatia. Having won three and drawing one of their four matches without conceding a goal, they look like one of the strongest contenders for the World Cup title.

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