Spain will have Lamine Yamal available for the opening World Cup match against Cape Verde on Monday, with Luis de la Fuente confirming the winger is fit to feature. Medical staff still plan to control playing time, but the Barcelona player has cleared recovery targets set after the hamstring problem.

Spain arrive at this World Cup as European champions and as favourites in Opta’s supercomputer projections, yet the historical record remains modest. Since lifting the trophy in 2010, Spain have reached the semi-finals only once in their last 14 tournament appearances.

The recent World Cup record underlines the size of the task. Spain have managed just one win in their last six matches at the tournament, with four draws and one defeat. That single victory was the 7-0 group-stage result against Costa Rica at Qatar 2022.

Spain are attempting to become only the fourth nation to hold the European Championship and World Cup titles at the same time. The current squad achieved continental success in Germany two years ago, and the management group now expects that experience to support another deep run.

The importance of Lamine Yamal to that campaign explains the attention on fitness updates. The winger sustained a hamstring injury in April and missed the closing weeks of Barcelona’s 2025-26 season. Since then, training workloads have been carefully increased to avoid any recurrence before the tournament.

De la Fuente reported that key attacking players now appear ready. “The good news is that Lamine is in perfect condition, De la Fuente told reporters during his pre-match press conference. He’s arrived at this point in the state in which we wanted him to be. He’s fine, just like Nico [Williams] and Victor [Munoz]. They’re all available, although some won’t play the entire game.”