Spain have form for making poor starts to World Cups.
They have only won their first match in three of their past 15 appearances, drawing five and losing seven.
One of those seven defeats, however, came in 2010 – when they went on to lift the trophy for the first time.
It has been a lean period for the country at World Cups since then, though.
A group-stage exit in 2014 was followed by successive losses in the last 16 in 2018 and 2022.
They have played 12 matches since beating the Netherlands in the 2010 final but have only won three times.