Mikel Oyarzabal at the double as Spain beat Austria and cruise into last 16

The group stage is something you have to do but the World Cup starts here, Lamine Yamal had insisted, and down on the Pacific that was how it played out. It wasn’t just that Spain defeated Austria to reach the last 16 against Portugal or Croatia, their first victory at the knockout stage since they were champions in 2010; it was that on an enjoyable sunny afternoon they were Spain again. Two goals from Mikel Oyarzabal and another from Pedro Porro completed a 3-0 win that was as recognisably theirs as their coach had requested beforehand. “Almost perfect,” Luis de la Fuente called it afterwards.

For the fourth consecutive game Spain kept a clean sheet, Unai Simón breaking Iker Casillas’s 2010 title-winning record while Pau Cubarsí and Aymeric Laporte confirmed their status as the centre-back partnership of the tournament so far, but what really stood out was what was happening either side and in front of them.

The full-backs Marc Cucurella and Porro were flying. A little flat until now, everyone in red was. So was the ball – 64% of possession and 10 shots on target, 23 overall, told a story that felt a little like redemption after the doubts so far. “Big teams turn up when they’re needed,” De la Fuente said.

His team were intense, incisive, and ultimately dominant. Fun too, an impressive victory wrapped up on 89 minutes with a third goal that looked remarkably like the first and a lot like Spain. “We were in it until the 2-0, but our opponents are special and it’s hard over 90 minutes,” Ralf Rangnick, the Austria head coach, said.

It was enjoyable from the earliest moments, a battle already building: Konrad Laimer versus Lamine Yamal started with the Austrian attacking and the Spaniard attacking back, the teenager’s shot after 59 seconds coming on the counter and feeling like a statement. De la Fuente had warned that Austria would press high but he knew that suited his team. Spain liked having the space to play, moving the ball faster, stretching the pitch. With Lamine Yamal and Laimer going at it – a nutmeg here, a race there – chances came. Mostly for Spain. Dani Olmo’s first, on the volley, was accidentally blocked by Oyarzabal and Laporte headed over. Although the best opportunity in the opening quarter came at the other end when Laimer stepped up again, always willing to look forward despite the threat that often forced him back. Marcel Sabitzer’s lovely inswinging cross dropped behind Cubarsí and only just escaped Michael Gregoritsch.

Spain though returned from the commercial break – which was booed again – and turned the screw, and never stopped. Stefan Posch had to be extremely sharp, racing across, as Lamine Yamal dashed into the area. From the corner, Spain scored, Cucurella smashing in after Alex Schlager failed to punch clear. But the referee, Glenn Nyberg, ruled it out because Cubarsí got too close to the keeper as the ball dropped under the bar. The decision was baffling but Spain kept coming. A wonderful run from Lamine Yamal all the way to the byline ended with Schlager pushing away and then the keeper made a superb save as Oyarzabal struck a low shot towards the far post. But Spain did get through after 36 minutes, Pedri finding Cucurella whose low delivery was turned in, first time and without fuss, by Oyarzabal.

Austria accelerated but if Spain found themselves opened up a bit they responded with a series of recoveries that spoke to the defensive commitment that goes with their quality. First Porro came rushing to put out a potential fire, then Rodri tidied up and next Olmo hurried back. When Laimer tried to wriggle through, Porro and Olmo closed the gap and set Spain away once more. That break led to an extraordinary Álex Baena free-kick off the bar and when the ball came down, via Cubarsí, Lamine Yamal seemed sure to score only for Schlager to make another save.

Spain came back out and did it all over again, Austria’s ambition now more about seeing out the storm – even if the only time they escaped, they might have got level. Another gorgeous ball from Sabitzer found Sasa Kalajdzic, whose 96th-minute goal against Algeria had brought them to this game and had only been on the pitch a minute. Leaping by the six-yard box, this time there were no heroics, his header going over and hope soon gone.

Almost immediately, a long, crisp Spain move broke down when Olmo’s effort was blocked but was resuscitated again, the ball recovered and fed to Baena. He pulled back for Porro, thundering in to head home. As a contest it was done but there was more, Oyarzabal completing a lovely move that was a picture of how Spain played, starting with Simón at one end and concluding at the other. There, yet another smooth, perfectly timed pass allowed Oyarzabal to slip in to score the kind of goal and complete the kind of game that Spain had wanted from the beginning, their World Cup under way.