Spain midfielder Mikel Merino celebrates scoring his team's first goal during the 2026 World Cup qualifier against Bulgaria

Valladolid (Spain) (AFP) - Spain moved a step closer to qualifying for the 2026 World Cup with a comfortable 4-0 win over Bulgaria on Tuesday.

Luis de la Fuente’s side were completely dominant and triumphed thanks to Mikel Merino’s brace, as well as Atanas Chernev’s own goal and a Mikel Oyarzabal penalty.

Spain have won all four of their opening matches, scoring 15 times without conceding a single goal to lead Group E by three points ahead of Turkey. Georgia are third with Bulgaria bottom after four defeats.

”(Scoring) was something I wanted to work on and I’m doing it,” Merino told TVE.

“The merit belongs to the team for creating so many chances, we control games from start to end, and that’s the important thing.

“We don’t have much further to go to get to the World Cup, but it’s not done yet… I hope we keep winning.”

De la Fuente was without several injured key players including Lamine Yamal, Rodri Hernandez and Nico Williams, but his side made light work of the visitors in Valladolid.

Euro 2024 winners Spain attacked relentlessly and came close to taking the lead when Barcelona midfielder Pedri Gonzalez’s chip hit the bar.

Pedri was involved again when they broke the deadlock, with his lofted ball into the area nodded on by Robin Le Normand for Merino to head home.

Bulgaria coach Aleksandar Dimitrov admitted before the game his side were just trying to avoid a thrashing, and they restricted Spain to just one goal in the first half.

Borja Iglesias, who replaced Samu Aghehowa at half-time, should have extended Spain’s lead but headed wide when well-placed.

Merino headed home his second of the game a few minutes later from Alejandro Grimaldo’s cross as the hosts kept up the pressure. It was Merino’s sixth goal in his last four matches for Spain.

Chernev bundled substitute Aleix Garcia’s cross into his own net for Spain’s third goal after 79 minutes.

Merino won a penalty in stoppage time as he was clumsily kicked by Martin Georgiev and Oyarzabal dispatched it to seal Spain’s triumph.

Spain have gone 29 competitive matches without defeat, excluding in a penalty shoot-out, matching a record set between 2010 and 2013 by former coach Vicente del Bosque, encompassing their single World Cup triumph to date.

“I have to congratulate the players… the problem is that we want more,” said De la Fuente.

“We have to keep competing and winning. I’m happy for this milestone but we’re not thinking about it.”