At 18 years and 110 days, Spain midfielder Gavi becomes the youngest World Cup scorer since the Brazilian legend Pele.
Gavi, who scored his team’s fifth goal in their 7-0 victory over Costa Rica, also became the third-youngest World Cup scorer ever – behind Pele and Mexico’s Manuel Rosas.
“What a moment,” FIFA tweeted.
Football legend Pele scored his first World Cup goal in 1958 at the age of 17 while Rosas scored in the 1930 tournament.
The Barcelona midfielder Gavi made his World Cup debut on Wednesday.
Gavi who is already the youngest player to feature for Spain, struck on 74 minutes after a cross from Alvaro Morata and wrote his name into the history books at the same time.
In 2015, at the age of 11, he signed for Barcelona. In September 2020, he signed his first professional contract with the Catalan club, and was promoted directly from the under-16 team to the under-19 team. He made his debut for Barcelona B on 21 February 2021. On 29 August 2021, he played his first official match for Barcelona’s first team in the 2–1 La Liga win over Getafe, replacing Sergi Roberto in the 73rd minute. On 18 December, he scored his first goal for the club and provided an assist in the 3–2 home win over Elche.
Gavi also had represented Spain at under-15 and under-16 level.
On 30 September 2021, Gavi received a surprise call-up to the senior Spain national team by the manager Luis Enrique. He made his debut in their UEFA Nations League semi-final win against Italy on 6 October, becoming the youngest player to ever represent Spain at senior level.
