Mikel Oyarzabal struck twice as Spain continued their preparations for the 2026 World Cup by beating Serbia in Villarreal.
Real Sociedad forward Oyarzabal profited from Fermin Lopez’s clever spin and Alex Baena’s dummy to fire in the 16th-minute opener for the reigning European champions, then added another a minute before half-time with a clinical finish from Pau Cubarsi’s pass.
Lamine Yamal rolled a shot against a post from inside the box after Spain’s second goal and Fermin then thought he had scored his first senior international goal, slotting in before being adjudged to have handled the ball.
Victor Munoz, who joined Osasuna from Real Madrid in 2025, struck on his Spain debut to complete the scoring with 18 minutes remaining.
Spain vs Serbia: La Roja cruise
The greatest moment of concern for Spain came when Veljko Birmancevic, who is on loan to La Liga club Getafe from Sparta Prague, appeared to have halved the deficit by finding the back of the net with a splendid volley.
Birmancevic appealed for a Video Assistant Referee check – the technology was not in use – after the goal was disallowed because the midfielder was deemed to have fouled Marc Cucurella.
Spain are next in action at home to Egypt in Barcelona on Tuesday (20:00 BST). Serbia, who did not qualify for the finals, host Saudi Arabia in Montenegro on the same day (17:00).
Spain team vs Serbia
Spain starting XI: Unai Simon; Marcos Llorente, Pau Cubarsi, Aymeric Laporte, Marc Cucurella; Pedri Gonzalez, Rodri Hernandez, Fermin Lopez; Lamine Yamal, Mikel Oyarzabal, Alex Baena
Spain substitutes: David Raya, Cristhian Mosquera, Alejandro Grimaldo, Dean Huijsen, Ferran Torres, Carlos Soler, Borja Iglesias, Dani Olmo, Yeremy Pino, Pedro Porro, Alex Remiro, Pablo Fornals, Martin Zubimendi, Victor Munoz, Ander Barrenetxea
Serbia team vs Spain
Serbia starting XI: Vanja Milinkovic-Savic; Ognjen Mimovic, Nikola Milenkovic, Strahinja Pavlovic, Aleksa Terzic, Filip Kostic; Nemanja Gudelj, Aleksandar Stankovic; Sergej Milinkovic-Savic; Veljko Birmancevic, Aleksandar Mitrovic
Serbia substitutes: Predrag Rajkovic, Njegos Petrovic, Mijat Gacinovic, Luka Jovic, Sasa Lukic, Djordje Petrovic, Stefan Bukinac, Kosta Nedeljkovic, Strahinja Erakovic, Petar Ratkov, Vasilije Kostov, Dejan Joveljic, Lazar Samardzic, Petar Stanic, Vanja Dragojevic
World Cup 2026: Who will Spain face?
Here are Spain’s initial scheduled World Cup fixtures. Kick-off times with an asterisk start the following day.
| Date | Opponents | Venue | BST | ET | PT |
| June 15 | Cape Verde | Atlanta | 17:00 | 12:00 | 09:00 |
| June 21 | Saudi Arabia | Atlanta | 17:00 | 12:00 | 09:00 |
| June 26 | Uruguay | Guadalajara | 01:00* | 20:00 | 17:00 |
Spain vs Serbia stats
- Spain topped their World Cup qualifying pool, finishing with 16 points from six games
- The countries had met three times previously, with Spain winning twice and the other game ending in a goalless draw
