-myKhel Team

Spain stepped up World Cup preparations with a 3-0 friendly win over Serbia in Villarreal, driven by two precise finishes from Mikel Oyarzabal and a debut goal for substitute Victor Munoz, as the Real Sociedad forward extended a scoring streak that is turning into a central story for Spain this year.

Oyarzabal had been used from the bench at Euro 2024, but scored the winner against England in the final and is now trusted from kick-off, making a 10th consecutive Spain start here, during which the forward has produced either a goal or an assist in every game, totalling 11 goals and five assists.

The 26-year-old’s numbers for Spain keep rising, with two goals against Serbia lifting Oyarzabal to 24 in 52 internationals, while six of those came during qualifying for the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada, where the forward’s latest brace strengthened status among Spain’s most reliable attackers.

Those figures place Oyarzabal inside Spain’s top 10 international scorers, as highlighted above, with the forward now just two goals short of Emilio Butragueo’s tally of 26, an achievement that underlines how firmly Oyarzabal has moved from impact substitute to regular starter in Spain’s attack for this World Cup cycle.

Spain’s first breakthrough in Villarreal arrived on 15 minutes, when a flowing move opened Serbia on the left side of the area and Oyarzabal drilled past Vanja Milinkovic-Savic, before Lamine Yamal struck the base of the right-hand post and Fermin Lopez saw a finish ruled out for handball earlier in the move.

Oyarzabal doubled the advantage a minute before half-time, stepping forward from distance and lashing a fierce strike from around 25 yards into the top-right corner, giving Milinkovic-Savic no chance and leaving Serbia struggling to cope with Spain’s control, with the scoreline already looking one-sided at the interval.

Serbia thought there might be a route back when Veljko Birmancevic put the ball in the net early in the second half, yet the forward had already been penalised for a light foul on Marc Cucurella, and any faint hope ended when Munoz, introduced for Oyarzabal nine minutes earlier, guided in Spain’s third from close range.

Spain had opportunities to extend the margin further, and even with talents like Yamal on the pitch and Munoz arriving from the bench, Oyarzabal’s influence stood out once more, reinforcing the view that Spain will lean heavily on the Real Sociedad forward’s finishing and creativity during the World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada.

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