Atlanta, United States (AFP) — Lamine Yamal is hard to avoid on the approach to Atlanta’s futuristic stadium where adverts featuring the 18-year-old adorn the sides of giant skyscrapers, but it is on the pitch that Spain desperately need the Barcelona superstar.

The European champions flunked their opening test of the World Cup, drawing 0-0 against debutants Cape Verde, sparking doubts over their status as one of the pre-tournament favourites.

Yamal was kept in reserve until the final quarter as he is nursed back to full fitness from a hamstring injury that had kept him sidelined for nearly two months.

Even if it did not ultimately break the deadlock, his sheer presence immediately changed the game.

The majority of the 68,000 crowd in Atlanta that had come to see one of the game’s biggest stars finally had something to get excited about.

Spain’s pedestrian passing game also at last had an outlet to stretch the Cape Verde defence.

“Lamine is undoubtedly a special player,” Spain midfielder Mikel Merino said. “He has great ability to beat his man and disrupt the opposition’s defensive shape.

“Given Lamine’s quality, he can influence any game at any moment.”

Yamal became a household name with his starring role as a 16-year-old when Spain swept all before them to win Euro 2024.

His blend of speed, skill, and goal threat on the right was complimented by Nico Williams on the left wing.

Williams’ own injury-disrupted season meant he only came off the bench against Cape Verde for the final few minutes plus stoppage time.

Without the direct ability of both to beat a man one against one, Spain regressed to the impotent side that has struggled on the World Cup stage since they lifted the trophy for the first time in 2010.

In the 16 years since, La Roja have won three of 12 World Cup games.

Spain winger Lamine Yamal (left) runs after the ball while chased by Cape Verde defender Joao Paulo during their FIFA World Cup Group H football match at Atlanta Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia on Monday. (Photo: AFP)

Moreover, they have completed 2,500 passes since they even scored a goal as their dominance of the ball counted for little against Japan and Morocco four years ago, and rarely troubled a Cape Verde side ranked 67 in the world.

“Lamine showed exactly what he’s capable of the moment he stepped onto the pitch,” Spain manager Luis de la Fuente said.

“He forced the opposition to change their approach, but that was the amount of playing time we felt was right for him.”

De la Fuente has stressed the need not to panic.

Spain are unbeaten in 32 competitive games stretching back over three years.

“Don’t have any doubt,” Yamal wrote on social media despite the disappointment on his World Cup debut.

“We know this is a long competition and the objective is still far off. We will keep working and everything will work out how we want.”

The longer format of the first-ever 48-team World Cup does allow for the contenders to build into the competition slowly.

One win in their next two games against Saudi Arabia or Uruguay should see them into the knockout stages.

But any doubt over the importance of Yamal to his nation’s chance of fulfilling their ambition of a second World Cup victory has been resoundingly answered, and not how De la Fuente would have wanted.

The pressure is now on for him to start Yamal, possibly earlier than he envisioned, against Saudi Arabia back in Atlanta on Sunday.

Just days after the Spain boss boasted at the depth of his squad making it “the best” in the competition, La Roja look reliant on their teenage superstar, and him remaining fit, in the gruelling weeks to come.