This Spain stalwart played 30 minutes... without touching the ball!

In partnership with

OneFootball

·15 June 2026

This Spain stalwart played 30 minutes... without touching the ball!

The hero of the Euro 2024 final is having a difficult start to the World Cup.

Anonymous in the first half of Spain–Cape Verde (Group H), Mikel Oyarzabal picked up an unfortunate record: he became the first recorded player since 1966 to play the opening 30 minutes of a World Cup match without touching the ball once.

OneFootball Videos

This statistic, noted by Opta, also highlights La Roja’s collective struggles in the first half. The absence of Lamine Yamal, who started on the bench, was clearly felt.

On the other side, this valiant Cape Verde team can already be proud of its opening performance at this World Cup.