Mikel Oyarzabal makes history with unwanted World Cup record that may never be broken

Spain forward Mikel Oyarzabal has made history with a truly stunning record that he will not be happy to have broken.

On Monday afternoon, Euro 2024 champions Spain got their World Cup campaign off to a nightmare start as they drew 0-0 Cape Verde at the Atlanta Stadium.

Despite the fact that they were without star player Lamine Yamal for the majority of the match, Spain were of course heavy favourites heading into the match, with Cape Verde playing in their first World Cup.

However, the European champions couldn't find the back of the net, meaning they were forced to share the points with a small African nation with a population of just over half a million.

In the fallout of the match many Spanish fans will be pointing the finger at several different players within the lineup as they come to terms with what is undoubtedly the biggest upset of the 2026 World Cup so far.

But there's one particularly damning stat that completely sums up the performance of the whole squad.

As revealed by Opta, Oyarzabal, who started up front for Spain, played the first 30 minutes of a FIFA World Cup match without touching the ball once.

In doing so, the Real Sociedad star became the first player on record since 1966 to achieve the feat, a record he could well hold for decades.

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The statistic is made even more damning when considering that Spain enjoyed around 70% of the possession in the opening half hour, eventually finishing the match with 74%.

Eventually, Oyarzabal did manage to get some time on the ball but failed to find the back of the net despite taking five shots with one on target.

Despite the poor performance, Oyarzabal remains an important figure in the Spanish lineup and is expected to start as Spain face Saudi Arabia and Uruguay in two fixtures that could prove to be vital to their World Cup dreams.

Spain set continue worrying trend after Cape Verde draw

But it's not just Oyarzabal that had a concerning performance during the match as the Spanish side as whole have continued a concerning trend that dates all the way back to December 2022.

As of the end of the Cape Verde draw, Spain have had 49 shots and completed 2,500 passes in the World Cup since scoring their last goal in the competition during their 2-1 loss to Japan nearly four years ago.

Although Spain made it through to the knockout stages of the 2022 World Cup, they failed to score in their round of 16 clash with Morocco, as the African nation held them to a 0-0 draw before beating them 3-0 in a penalty shootout.