Gavi the history maker for Spain to crush feeble Costa Rica

Spain Olmo 11, Asensio 21, Torres 31pen 54, Gavi 74, Soler 90, Morata 90 7 | Costa Rica  0

- Sid Lowe

Let's do this by numbers, shall we? For the first time in four World Cups, Spain won their opening game. Ferran Torres scored their 100th goal in the tournament's history and 18-yearold Gavi, one of two teenagers in the starting lineup, was their youngest ever goalscorer.

They were just two of six different scorers, Spain reaching that magical figure the vidiprinter spells out to avoid confusion and express wonder.

They had 16 shots, allowed none in return, and scored seven times. No wonder Carlos Soler celebrated getting the sixth in the 90th minute with a point and a wink that said: 'we're here'. Boy, are they.

There was still time for Álvaro Morata to add another two minutes later, Spain's No 7 getting Spain's seventh. Mi Gran Noche by Raphael, a gay icon back home, boomed round the place. It had been a great night, that is for sure, Luis Enrique left laughing, his team having presented their candidacy. Spain played more than a thousand passes and, if the old question used to run "yeah but how many mattered?", the new answer looks like it could well be: all of them. Pointless? Not a bit of it. It is hard to recall a display as complete as this.

"We were superb in every aspect of the game and I like the fact we dominated from the first whistle," Luis Enrique said. "It was very special; everything went well."

From Costa Rica's point of view, it might be equally difficult to remember one as calamitous, an aged side taken to pieces by kids. For Luis Fernando Suárez's team it began badly, never got better and could get worse. "Psychologically I'm really worried we won't be able to recover from this," he said.