Lamine Yamal became the youngest player to score in a European Championship qualifier as Spain beat Georgia 7-1 on Friday.
At age 16 years 57 days, he beat the record set by Gareth Bale, who was 17 years 83 days when he scored for Wales against Slovakia in 2006.
Yamal’s strike in the 74th minute also saw him make history as Spain’s youngest goal scorer. Yamal had come on as a first-half substitute to become the youngest player to appear for Spain, a record also previously held by Gavi in 2021 when he was 17 years 62 days.
Yamal’s record-breaking night overshadowed Alvaro Morata’s hat trick in the rout against Georgia.
Spain took a 4-0 lead inside 40 minutes at Boris Paichadze Stadium in Tbilisi to move up to second in Group A on six points after three games.
Scotland, which beat Cyprus 3-0, leads the group on 15 points after winning all five of its games so far.
Morata opened the scoring for Spain in the 22nd and got his second in the 40th. He completed his hat trick in the 65th. Solomon Kvirkvelia scored an own-goal in the 27th to double Spain’s lead and Dani Olmo added another in the 38th.
Spain led 4-0 at halftime, but Giorgi Chakvetadze pulled one back for Georgia four minutes after the break. After Morata’s third made it 5-1, Nico Williams scored a sixth for the visitors in the 68th. Yamal capped a historic evening when the forward converted Williams’ cross with a fine left-footed finish.
Yamal had already set milestones at Barcelona.
After he caught the eye of coach Xavi Hernandez while playing for the club’s youth sides, Yamal went on to become the youngest player to appear for Barcelona in April when he was 15 years, 9 months, 16 days. Last month he became the youngest player to start for Barcelona. He has yet to score for his club’s senior team.
In Bratislava, Portugal’s Bruno Fernandes scored in the first half to earn a 1-0 away win over Slovakia in their Euro 2024 qualifier on Friday as they moved five points clear of their opponents atop Group J and maintained their perfect record after five games.
Fernandes’s low strike two minutes from halftime beat Martin Dubravka inside his far post as the midfielder marked his 29th birthday with his third goal in the Euro 2024 qualifiers.
Portugal, which plays host to Luxembourg on Monday, have 15 points followed by Slovakia, which has 10 along with third-placed Luxembourg after they beat Iceland 3-1. Slovakia is bidding to qualify for its third consecutive European finals. The two teams meet again on Oct. 13 in Porto.
In other games, Boznia and Herzegovina beat Liechtenstein 2-1, Croatia thumped Lativa 5-0 and Turkey and Armenia played to a 1-1 draw.