Lamine Yamal brightened the gloom that has descended over Spanish football by becoming the country's youngest ever player and goalscorer as La Roja thrashed Georgia 7-1 on Friday to get their Euro 2024 qualifying campaign back on track.
On a night of goals, Scotland beat Cyprus 3-0 and Croatia put five past Latvia while Portugal were made to work a bit harder, Bruno Fernandes on target in the 1-0 win in Slovakia.
Spain's mood in the Euro qualifiers was not helped by a defeat by Scotland in their second game had left them fourth in Group A.
But they climbed up to second with a big win in Tbilisi, inspired by an Alvaro Morata hat-trick -- although the Atletico Madrid forward's treble takes second place to Yamal's superb first appearance for his country at 16 years and 57 days old.
The Barcelona teenager came on from the bench with Nico Williams after 43 minutes to replace Marco Asensio and Dani Olmo, who had both suffered knocks, with Spain 4-0 up and cruising.
Yamal finished lethally in the 74th minute to send Spain 7-1 up after Williams found him with a cut-back.
"I'm happy obviously, for my debut and my goal," Yamal told Spanish broadcaster Teledeporte.
"It's a dream, I'm living in a dream right now."
Morata's opener in the 22nd minute was followed by Solomon Kvirkvelia's own goal.
Olmo drilled the third past Valencia goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili in the 38th minute and Morata added the fourth after a slick exchange with Ruiz. Spain were forced to change both their wingers before half-time and Yamal gratefully grabbed the chance to make history.
Watford's Giorgi Chakvetadze pulled one back for Georgia before Morata completed his hat-trick, Williams and Yamal completing the rout.
Spain, who face Cyprus in Granada on Tuesday, remain nine points behind Scotland, who have played two games more.
The Scots made it five wins from five as Scott McTominay, Ryan Porteous and John McGinn all struck within the opening half an hour in Larnaca.
Steve Clarke's men could seal their place in Germany next year with three games to spare should Norway and Georgia draw in Oslo on Tuesday.
Bruno Fernandes earned Portugal a fifth consecutive triumph in qualifying, his goal securing a 1-0 win over Slovakia in Bratislava.
Roberto Martinez's side have not conceded a goal in Group J, scoring 15, and are five points clear of their opponents who are second after being beaten for the first time.
The Luxembourgers claimed a rare victory with a 3-1 win over Iceland while Liechtenstein went down 2-1 to Bosnia and Herzogovena.
Bruno Petkovic scored twice and set up Luka Ivanusec for another in the first half to put Croatia in control of their tie against Latvia.
Andrej Kramaric and Mario Pasalic completed a 5-0 win with goals in the second period.
Croatia are second in Group D, three points behind Turkey who were held to a 1-1 draw by Armenia, who play Croatia on Monday.
