England 2-3 Spain: Nations League football – as it happened
England were 2-1 up when Harry Kane’s penalty hit the bar; the world champions made them pay
10.12pm BST
It was another high-profile game when Thomas Tuchel’s England let a lead slip in the second half and went on to lose. But unlike the last time, it was not one for recriminations. The England support can accept losing when their team plays with cut and thrust. More to the point, they can accept losing to Spain who, at times, played football from a different stratosphere.
England were game. They were driven by Jude Bellingham, who ran on adrenaline and played to the point of maximum expression. They had positive surges either side of the interval, especially the one towards the end of the first half when goals from Anthony Gordon and Harry Kane put them in charge, hauling them back after Lamine Yamal’s second-minute goal.
Related: Oyarzabal earns Spain Nations League win as England pay for Kane penalty miss
Related: Thomas Tuchel denies England players were distracted by Manchester City verdict
Updated at 11.55pm BST
10.11pm BST
Thomas Tuchel's reaction Terrible start, the worst start possible. The reaction was very good. I think we were the better team overall, even though we conceded some big chances. It was our best 15 minutes after the [half-time] whistle, but we couldn’t convert the penalty. Had we done that I thinik Spain would have felt their unbeaten run was ending.
Another big mistake for 2-2, and the third goal was the only one they really scored. It is what it is, we have to keep going and learn from it.
[Was the Anthony Gordon goal a template?] No, it was a counter-attack.
Our bravery [pressing high up the field] was outstanding. But we couldn’t convert enough into chances and goals. At this level, the details matter.
Updated at 10.12pm BST
10.03pm BST
Harry Kane's reaction We reached good levels in the World Cup but didn’t quite put a full 90 minutes together. It was the same today. But that period [either side of half-time] was as good as we’ve played in a long, long time. We know that’s the level we can reach and on another day we’d have won that game.
9.51pm BST
Anthony Gordon’s reaction
I think it’s a bit of a missed chance. It was a great game to watch and play in; some of the attacking play was of the highest level. But when mistakes cost you, you feel like you’ve given it away rather than them winning it. We were as good as them and they were as good as us.
[On his goal] It kind of summed up what I said, which was quite nice, but ultimately it didn’t lead to a victory.
I don’t feel like there is a gap [to Spain]. If the penalty went in I think we would have won. I think you can see tonight that we’re a top team.
9.47pm BST
Nobody will ever write the book on England’s greatest defeats, but that was one of the better ones. They went toe to toe with the world champions and would probably have gone 3-1 up but for Harry Kane’s Standing Foot (best prog-rock band ever). There are obvious concerns about the defence, but with the ball England were really good.
9.45pm BST
“Bit late for this,” says Paul McGrory, “but is Bellingham the first player to wear the armband who has never played top-flight English football. It might be a disgrace, but we’ll have to await the view of various social media disgraces.”
You’re a disgrace mate. (It must be, right.)
9.42pm BST
Full time: England 2-3 Spain Bellingham thrashes a rising shot from the angle that is pushed over by Simon. The corner is cleared and the referee calls time on a richly enjoyable game at Wembley. It confirmed what we already knew. England are a very good football team; Spain are the best.
Updated at 9.44pm BST
9.40pm BST
90+4 m,in Baena’s silly challenge on Rogers gives England one last chance from a set-piece. Anderson’s free-kick is too close to Simon, the end.
9.38pm BST
90+2 min An overhit cross from Rogers wafts behind for a goalkick. England are heading for defeat but they’ve played well against the best team in the world, certainly with the ball.
9.36pm BST
90+1 min Jude Bellingham has been offensively good in the second half.
Updated at 9.38pm BST
9.36pm BST
90 min O’Reilly is struggling with cramp; England have used all their subs I think. There will be 48 hours five minutes of added time.
9.35pm BST
89 min: England substitution Jarrad Branthwaite replaces Marc Guehi in defence.
9.33pm BST
88 min A superb cross from Rogers in the right is bobbled behind for a corner by Pubill.
9.32pm BST
86 min Anderson slides a good ball down the left side of the area towards Garner, whose chipped cross takes Simon out of the game but is too high for Calvert-Lewin.
9.31pm BST
84 min Bellingham, the England captain now that Kane has gone off, drags a long-range shot too close to Simon.
Updated at 9.31pm BST
9.28pm BST
83 min: England substitutions Morgan Gibbs-White and Dominic Calvert-Lewin replace Bukayo Saka and Harry Kane.
9.28pm BST
82 min Spain substitution Mikel Merino for Dani Olmo.
9.27pm BST
81 min Now Spain are sitting a bit deeper, inviting England to show them what they’ve got. Bellingham finds Saka, who goes over under a challenge from Cucurealla in the area. Cucurella got a slight touch on the ball, so no penalty. Spain beak and Bellingham is booked for a tactical foul.
9.25pm BST
79 min “Pedri, Rob, just Pedri,” says Ruth Purdue. “He made that goal. Just an invisible force of technique. The interception when it was fired at him at the start of the buildup for the goal… wow.”
9.23pm BST
77 min “After being put on the back foot by Spain, England have shown spark but Harry Kane’s missed penalty and a second defensive blunder is taking its toll,” writes Colum Fordham. “As the excellent Anthony Gordon said prior to the match, England have to play to their strengths. Playing the Spanish way ‘is not in us’. It might be time to give Trent AA a chance to show his skills with his crosses and long-range passing.”
Updated at 9.23pm BST
9.22pm BST
What a delicious goal. Baena found a pocket of space just outside the D and guided a perfect angled pass into the area for Oyarzabal. He took a touch on the run and teased the softest of chips over Trafford with his left foot. The defensive gaps were probably too big, and Laporte probably shouldn’t have been allowed to punch a pass through to Baena, but the creation of the goal was beautiful.
Updated at 10.26pm BST
9.20pm BST
GOAL! England 2-3 Spain (Oyarzabal 74) It’s Spain’s game now!
9.20pm BST
73 min This is still anyone’s game, but Spain have been so much better since that missed penalty from Kane.
Updated at 9.22pm BST
9.17pm BST
70 min: Spain substitution Pedri on, Fabian Ruiz off.
9.16pm BST
70 min: Double substitution for England Morgan Rogers and James Garner replace Anthony Gordon and Myles Lewis-Skelly, who were both excellent. To these admittedly tired eyes, Lewis-Skelly looks a proper midfield player.
Updated at 9.17pm BST
9.16pm BST
69 min This game is so open. Yamal’s long-range shot is blocked at one end; Lewis-Skelly’s long-range curler is comfortably saved by Simon at the other.
9.14pm BST
68 min “It looks like the City players are affected by the charges,” writes Colin Greener. “Errors from O’Reilly, Guehi, and even Rodri. Doesn’t explain the Cucurella one though.”
He does have the same initials. Bit like Jarvis and Jesus.
Updated at 9.18pm BST
9.13pm BST
67 min O’Reilly is booked for tattooing Yamal’s right calf.
9.12pm BST
66 min Saka, found by the increasingly influential Bellingham, whips a trademark curler just wide of the far post. Lovely effort.
9.08pm BST
62 min Olmo’s shot from the edge of the D is well blocked by Guehi. Spain have woken up.
9.07pm BST
Spain are level after another mistake from England. Nico O’Reilly’s errant pass went straight to Olmo on the right wing, just outside the area. He fired a pass into Baena, who made room to shape an emphatic shot past Trafford from 20 yards. That’s a cracking finish from a player who has made a great chance and scored a goal within a few minutes of coming on.
Updated at 9.41pm BST
9.06pm BST
GOAL! England 2-2 Spain (Alex Baena 60) The early evidence is that Alex Baena has come to play.
Updated at 9.15pm BST
9.06pm BST
60 min: Great chance for Yamal! Yamal nicks the ball just outside the area and plays a short pass into Baena. He returns the favour with a delicious backheel, only for Yamal to slide a simple chance wide of the far post.
Updated at 12.04am BST
9.04pm BST
58 min: Double substitution for Spain Luis de la Fuente goes back to his World Cup final attack: Mikel Oyarzabal and Alex Baena replace Ferran Torres and Nico Williams. I think Spain may have maded those changes after the penalty but it has only just been flagged on our TV coverage.
Updated at 9.10pm BST
9.03pm BST
57 min Another good England move culminates in a fierce shot from Quansah that hits Cucurella in the face and sends him flying. Crumbs, he wore one there.
Updated at 9.04pm BST
9.02pm BST
56 min “This Spain feels like a completely different side from the boa constrictor that suffocated their opponents at the World Cup,” writes Kári Tulinius. “As much as they’re infinitely more entertaining, they also seem wobbly. I wonder if Lamine Yamal, back on brilliant form, unbalances them. A great individual alters the function of a team.”
I suspect it’s just the size of the contest, and what it means to both teams. I’m still not sure England can beat Spain in a World Cup or European Championship knockout game.
Updated at 9.05pm BST
9.00pm BST
54 min: Kane hits the bar! Harry Kane’s standing foot gives way and he smacks the penalty against the crossbar! Replays show that he actually kicked it with both feet – his left slipped into the ball and his right spooned it against the bar.
Updated at 12.08am BST
8.59pm BST
53 min: Penalty to England! The referee goes to the monitor and decides that Rodri did foul Bellingham. He didn’t get the ball and the only debate is whether Bellingham initiated contact. Either way, Harry Kane has the chance to score his 87th goal for England.
8.57pm BST
51 min Now Bellingham goes over in the area after a challenge from Rodri. Again, no penalty. It’s being checked by VAR.
The first one on Saka wasn’t a foul by the way.
8.56pm BST
49 min England appeal unsuccessfully for a penalty when Laporte lunges at Saka in the area. I’d like to see that again.
8.55pm BST
49 min The impressive Lewis-Skelly wins a corner for England, who have started the second half on the front foot. Saka’s oputswinger is headed away by Cubarsi, but England come again through Bellingham on the left. He hammers a cross that is headed over by Quansah, eight yards out. The cross was fractionally too high.
8.53pm BST
47 min A word for James Trafford, who made a very good save to deny Torres when the score was 1-0. He’ll be buzzing until the sun comes up if that ultimately leads to an England win.
8.52pm BST
46 min Dan Burn is on No changes on either side as England begin the second half.
8.48pm BST
“One thing that’s occurred to me watching Spain in various competitions is that they have a weakness in attack – they lack a truly world-class striker,” writes Steve Bradfield. “Would Fernando Torres or David Villa have missed the Ferran Torres chance? I don’t think so.”
In fairness, I’m not sure Mikel Oyarzabal would have missed it.
8.47pm BST
“Excellent turnaround by England, and they’re in a strong position,” writes Matt Dony. “So what’s the plan now? Sub on a few defenders? Sit back, give the attackers some space, and hope for the best? Start passing exclusively sideways and backwards? What could go wrong.”
8.47pm BST
Slovenia 0-0 Scotland
“Evening Rob,” says Simon McMahon. “Tommy T’s England mixing it with world champions Spain is all well and good, but the Seb Pocognoli Scotland era, that started with a superb 0-0 draw in Slovenia, makes it all irrelevant anyway. Zidane’s France? Klopp’s Germany? Forget it. I’ve seen the future, and it’s terrifying Oli McBurnie and Robbie Ure.”
Related: Pocognoli’s reign as Scotland coach begins with stalemate in Slovenia
8.38pm BST
Half time: England 2-1 Spain Cracking entertainment at Wembley. Lamine Yamal scored inside two minutes after a mistake from Marc Guehi and, though England needed a bit of fortune in defence, they responded with impressive conviction. Anthony Gordon’s excellent equaliser was followed by Harry Kane’s 86th goal for England. Eighty-sixth.
Spain conceded one goal in eight games at the World Cup; they’ve conceded two in 45 minutes at Wembley.
Updated at 8.44pm BST
8.35pm BST
45 min: Cucurella hits the post! Cucurella slips Quansah on the left and mishits a chipped cross that beats Trafford and hits the face of the far post. I’m 99.94% sure he didn’t mean that.
Updated at 8.35pm BST
8.33pm BST
44 min An outrageous run from Yamal leads to a deflected shot from Fabian Ruiz that spins a few yards wide. Yamal has been bewilderingly good.
8.32pm BST
42 min Yamal spoons over from 15 yards after another successful high press. This is a really fun game. Maybe England need to start going 1-0 down in knockout matches instead of taking the lead.
8.31pm BST
O’Reilly exchanged passes with Gordon on the left and chipped a flat cross towards the penalty spot. Kane guided a relatively soft header across goal, one that should have been cleared by Cucurella – but he got in a tangle and could only thigh the ball into the net. Kane’s header was on target so it’ll go down as his 479th goal for England.
Updated at 8.43pm BST
8.29pm BST
GOAL! England 2-1 Spain (Kane 40) England have turned it round!
8.29pm BST
39 min: Just wide from Kane! Saka wins the ball high up the pitch and gives it to Kane on the edge of the D. He works a bit of space and whacks a trademark curler that flashes just wide of the post.
8.28pm BST
Nico Williams slipped just outside the England area, and 10 seconds later it was 1-1. Anderson found Gordon, who opened the game up with a deft flick round the corner to Bellingham. He surged over the halfway line and played a perfectly weighted return pass to Gordon, who calmly slipped the ball past Simon from 20 yards. Fabulous goal.
Updated at 11.42pm BST
8.25pm BST
GOAL! England 1-1 Spain (Gordon 36) England equalise with a ruthless counter-attack!
8.24pm BST
34 min: Olmo goes close Yamal finds Olmo on the right side of the area with a gorgeous flick. Olmo cracks a first-time shot on the turn that beats Trafford and bounces just wide of the post. Spain haven’t dominated the ball but they’ve had all the chances.
8.21pm BST
32 min Saka zips infield from the right and hits a long-range shot that is headed behind by Fabian Ruiz. England are doing a lot of good things in the final third.
8.19pm BST
29 min An England corner leads to quarter-chances for Anderson, who shins a volley across goal, and Saka, who splashes over from 20 yards.
8.17pm BST
27 min: Great chance for Torres! Spain could be 3-0 up. Rodri cracks a terrific angled pass into Torres, who gallops straight between Anderson and Konsa to move through on goal. Trafford comes out and Torres slides a poor shot wide of the far post.
Updated at 8.18pm BST
8.14pm BST
26 min After another good England move, Quanash picks out Bellingham on the edge of the D. He runs at Rodri, then falls over looking for a foul. The referee doesn’t buy it.
8.12pm BST
23 min Believe it or not, England had 59% possession in the first quarter of the game. But they are yet to have an attempt at goal.
Updated at 8.13pm BST
8.11pm BST
22 min “O’Reilly is a very good footballer but is he really a first-rate left back?” wonders Jeremy Smith. “Watching him get into, but then do little with, good positions down the left makes me wonder if he and Lewis-Skelly ought to swap.”
Interesting point. I like him a lot on the ball when he plays left-back for City, so maybe he needs to work on his relationship with Gordon.
8.09pm BST
20 min Spain are the better team but England have responded pretty well to going behind. They look good in possession, jittery at the back.
8.08pm BST
18 min An overhit backpass is nonchalantly kept in play by Unai Simon, first with his chest and then with the head.
8.06pm BST
16 min: Fine save by Trafford! England’s defensive line is all over the place, allowing Yamal to put Torres through on goal with a simple pass. Torres’s shot is deflected wide by the outstretched left leg of Trafford; that’s an excellent reaction save.
It was Quansah, too deep on the far side, who played Torres onside.
Updated at 8.16pm BST
8.04pm BST
15 min An excellent move from England ends with a cross from Gordon towards Saka at the far post. Cucurella takes it away from him, a crucial intervention.
8.01pm BST
13 min A better spell for England, with some good possession in the Spain half. Gordon looks lively on the left.
7.59pm BST
10 min England have made a nervous start, particularly in their defensive third. By contrast, Spain look full of the joys of being the best team in the world.
7.57pm BST
8 min England are trying to play through Spain’s high press, a risky tactic that almost backfires when Lewis-Skelly’s pass is nicked by Cucurella. He moves into the area and hits a cross-shot that deflects behind for a corner.
The corner eventually leads to a disallowed goal from Ferran Torres, who was offside when he volleyed Fabian Ruiz’s cross past Trafford.
7.56pm BST
7 min “A huge cheer goes up in Copenhagen,” says Alun Pugh. “Welsh fans hugely enjoying the start of this game.”
Does that count as mixed messaging?
7.55pm BST
6 min England’s first attack. Gordon charges past Fabian Ruiz on the left edge of the area and clips a cross that is claimed at the second attempt by Unai Simon.
7.54pm BST
4 min Guehi had no idea Yamal was behind him, so he either didn’t get a call or didn’t hear it.
7.53pm BST
A horrible start for England. Marc Guehi dithered in possession 25 yards from goal and was robbed by Yamal. He charged into the area, opened his body and curved a shot across Trafford. It hit the inside of the far post and rebounded into the net. That was a really good finish from Yamal because he was off balance after a slight push from Guehu.
Updated at 8.08pm BST
7.51pm BST
GOAL! England 0-1 Spain (Yamal 2) Well that escalated quickly.
7.49pm BST
1 min Peep peep! Spain kick off from left to right as we watch.
7.49pm BST
Eric Garcia injured in the warm-up There’s been a late change to the Spain team, with Marc Pubill replacing Eric Garcia at right-back. These are the revised teams.
England (4-2-3-1) Trafford; Quansah, Konsa, Guehi, O’Reilly; Anderson, Lewis-Skelly; Saka, Bellingham, Gordon; Kane.
Subs: Pickford, Steele, Alexander-Arnold, Scott, Chalobah, Hall, Branthwaite, Rogers, Garner, Calvert-Lewin, Gibbs-White, Eze.
Spain (4-2-3-1) Simon; Pubill, Cubarsi, Laporte, Cucurella; Rodri, Ruiz; Yamal, Olmo, Williams; Torres.
Subs: Raya, Martinez, Huijsen, Grimaldo, Merino, Lopez, Pino, Baena, Zubimendi, Pedri, Oyarzabal.
Referee Davide Massa (Italy)
7.43pm BST
“He’s called Pickers now?” sniffs Andrew Goudie. “What’s his nickname, ‘Cherry’?”
I thought it was Pickers?
7.42pm BST
James Trafford embraces Rodri, his old Manchester City team-mate, in the tunnel. This is the biggest night of his burgeoning career.
7.38pm BST
Thomas Tuchel’s pre-match thoughts
[On Spain] They’re the European champions, they’re the world champions. They’re the team to beat, which is super hard. We have some questions to answer, but we want to be the first team to find answers to these questions.
[On the selection of James Trafford] He will play two consecutive matches, then Pickers gets the other two matches. It was amazing to see how Jordan Pickford reacted. We told him we want to see Trafford at this kind of level and see what’s behind Pickers. We know what Pickers can give us and he did nothing wrong.
7.35pm BST
“Can I just set Krishnamoorthy V‘s mind to rest,” begins Matt Dony. “Rob is both unfortunate and masochistic. Nothing else explains a decades-long commitment to the MBM!”
7.35pm BST
The FA will pay tribute to Kevin Keegan, a romantic workaholic like no other, before tonight’s game. He remains the only Englishman to win the Ballon d’Or twice, an extraordinary achievement for which he never received enough credit.
Related: Kevin Keegan obituary
Updated at 11.50pm BST
7.28pm BST
England are about to face the hardest challenge in international football, maybe at any level of the game. They are going to try to score against Spain. Spain conceded one goal in eight games on the way to winning the World Cup while allowing their opponents 2.37 expected goals, a mere 0.30 per 90 minutes played.
Thomas Tuchel has said he hoped his side “became for 10 minutes more like Spain” to comfortably dominate possession when the heat was on. A fine aspiration for those situations, but it is not an approach that will help England unlock the Spain backline. The pass masters cannot be toppled that way. The solution may lie elsewhere within the same Tuchel press conference.
Tuchel spoke of how English fans and players prefer chaos. “There is no heritage of: ‘Oh, let’s control around the middle line. Let’s do a deep buildup and then bring them out’,” he said. “It’s just like: ‘Come on. Let’s kick the ball into the opponent’s box and fight with them’.”
And this is how England can beat Spain. Granted, it requires a little more nuance than Tuchel’s simple summation. But not much. The two defeats Spain have suffered in the Luis de la Fuente era help prove the point. Both occurred in the UK.
Related: How do England beat Spain, or even score against them? The data suggests crosses
7.21pm BST
Like the kid he is, Lamine Yamal just wanted to keep playing. This wasn’t Plaça Joan XXIII, wasn’t El Parque de Rocafonda either; it wasn’t the Mataró neighbourhood where it all began, but it might have been. “We’re in a World Cup final and I wanted to carry on,” he says, and there’s the smile again, the braces. Really? “Yes”. No nerves? “No. I never thought: ‘Just blow the whistle’. I was enjoying it.” No fear, just fun: 19 July, New Jersey and he knew: this 19-year-old who had happily been asleep on the bus to the biggest match of his life.
And now he sits in a first-floor office in Las Rozas, surrounded by tactics boards and stats sheets. There’s a Spain keyring hanging from the door and a second star on his shirt. In the corridor, crates loaded for London. Son of Mounir and Sheila, named after the family friends who helped them, “touched by God’s wand” in the words of the coach whose office is next door, there’s something about Lamine Yamal. He turned 17 the day before the final of Euro 2024, a schoolboy sitting exams, and 19 the day before the semi-final of the World Cup. Asked what he wanted, he said a trip to New York, so there he was, about to be a champion again.
The way Lamine Yamal tells it, Spain knew they were world champions before they had scored, in the moment Enzo Fernández was sent off. It was the third minute of second-half stoppage time, still 0-0, but now, he says: “We knew it was impossible they would score, and with the ball against 10, very difficult for us not to.” The surprise was that they hadn’t already, but on 106 minutes the ball came to his feet. He had been thinking about this moment for some time.
Related: Lamine Yamal: ‘Football is mechanised but players like me have that special spark’
7.19pm BST
“Rob,” begins Alan Baverstock. “Sid Lowe writes b e a u t i f u l l y.”
Damn straight. All his stuff is great but I think his interviews are remarkable, both the quotes he elicits and the way he writes them up. I’d urge y’all to read the Lamine Yamal interview I’m about to post.
Updated at 7.21pm BST
6.57pm BST
Anthony Gordon has sided with Thomas Tuchel’s assertion that controlling games through possession is not part of English football’s DNA. Although Gordon revealed surprise at being substituted when England were 1-0 up in their World Cup semi-final against Argentina, the winger refused to blame the defeat on Tuchel’s decisions and argued that wider cultural issues influenced the side’s collapse.
England’s perennial struggle to keep the ball when under pressure flared when a place in the final was within touching distance in July, allowing Argentina to fight back and go through with two late goals. The pain has not gone away and there has been intense scrutiny of Tuchel’s role in Atlanta. The head coach’s tactical choices were criticised and he faced a backlash after saying “ball possession” was not in his team’s DNA.
But Gordon, who thinks he will always be scarred by losing against Argentina, sided with Tuchel’s observations about England’s style as he looked towards the Nations League game against Spain on Saturday. The 25-year-old admitted the side had an ingrained inability to control games but argued they should stop trying to copy other nations.
Gordon has gained an insight into the Spanish understanding of how to use the ball since his move to Barcelona. His view is that England should lean more into their physical strengths.
Related: ‘It’s not in us’: Anthony Gordon backs Tuchel over England’s possession problem
6.52pm BST
“Hello Rob,” writes Krishnamoorthy V. “Were you assigned this game or did you opt for it? This important piece of information would let me decide if you are merely unfortunate or a steadfast masochist.”
Opt for it indeed. The Man giveth, and The Man taketh away. On the plus side, I get tomorrow off and we all know Sunday night is where the real excitement lies.
Updated at 7.28pm BST
6.48pm BST
Thomas Tuchel has thrown Cole Palmer’s England future into major doubt by questioning whether the Chelsea attacker wants to be part of his squad.
England’s head coach did not hold back on Palmer’s latest withdrawal from international duty, warning that the 24-year-old has missed too many opportunities to play for his country. Palmer has only 14 caps and his decision not to join up with the squad this week, because of a minor muscular injury, caused disappointment given he was left out of Tuchel’s World Cup squad after struggling with form and fitness last season.
Tuchel has put a lot of store in team spirit and is clear about wanting commitment. The German has rarely been able to work with Palmer, who had earned a high-profile recall after making a strong start to the campaign, and did not go down the diplomatic route when it was suggested the former Manchester City player does not seem desperate to play for England. “Hard to argue against what you’re saying,” Tuchel said.
The line came with a warning for Palmer. “He misses too many camps,” Tuchel said. “That’s the overall headline. We have a lot of invitations and he couldn’t make this one. It is what it is. I am not ready to focus on players who are not here. The players that are here have my full attention.
Related: Thomas Tuchel warns Cole Palmer about ‘missing way too many’ England camps
6.43pm BST
“I’m going to tell you a story,” Luis de la Fuente said. “As soon as the game finished on 19 July, before anyone had cooled down at all, just two or three minutes after the final, one of the players – and you’ll have to forgive me for not telling you which one, but it was one of those who has been with us for the longest time – came up to me and said: ‘Mister, now what? What’s left to win?’ And I said: ‘Bloody hell, the game against England at Wembley on 26 September.’”
It was a Friday afternoon at Las Rozas and Spain’s coach had just named his first squad since that day in New Jersey. It was a familiar one, full of history makers. Of the 26 from the World Cup, only four had been left out and there was an explanation for each: Marcos Llorente has announced his international retirement; Joan García is injured; Borja Iglesias, who always felt the likeliest to leave first, is not fully fit; and Gavi is suspended for Wembley, although he could have faced Croatia and Czechia.
Related: De la Fuente brings insatiable Spain to England knowing World Cup is not enough
6.37pm BST
Team news: Trafford preferred to Pickford Leeds goalkeeper James Trafford starts ahead of Jordan Pickford, a selection that few people saw coming. Pickford is among the subs, so this might be the end of his long spell as England’s undisputed No1. Myles Lewis-Skelly covers for Declan Rice in midfield and Jarell Quansah is preferred to Trent Alexander-Arnold at right-back.
Ferran Torres and Nico Williams, the substitutes who combined for Spain’s World Cup-winning goal against Argentina, start ahead of Alex Baena and Mikel Oyarzabal. The only other change from that game is in defence, where Eric Garcia replaces the injured Pedro Porro at right-back.
England (4-2-3-1) Trafford; Quansah, Konsa, Guehi, O’Reilly; Anderson, Lewis-Skelly; Saka, Bellingham, Gordon; Kane.
Subs: Pickford, Steele, Alexander-Arnold, Scott, Chalobah, Hall, Branthwaite, Rogers, Garner, Calvert-Lewin, Gibbs-White, Eze.
Spain (4-2-3-1) Simon; Garcia, Cubarsi, Laporte, Cucurella; Rodri, Ruiz; Yamal, Olmo, Williams; Torres.
Subs: Raya, Martinez, Huijsen, Grimaldo, Merino, Lopez, Pino, Pubill, Baena, Zubimendi, Pedri, Oyarzabal.
Referee Davide Massa (Italy)
Updated at 6.57pm BST
6.28pm BST
Thomas Tuchel has pictured the scene. It comes after the final whistle has blown on England’s Nations League opener against Spain on Saturday night, the first post-World Cup fixture for both teams, and it has Wembley swaying to the strains of Wonderwall. It is a moment of communion, a reconnection with the Oasis classic that was the soundtrack to England’s World Cup campaign, which delivered so much only to end in such disappointment.
“Do I think it will happen tomorrow?” Tuchel said, when asked if Wonderwall would play again afterwards. “I think it will happen if we win.”
There are a couple of counterpoints. The visit of Spain is certainly a glamour fixture and Wembley is sold out in anticipation, but it is not a World Cup knockout tie. The emotion cannot pulse to the same levels. Furthermore, Tuchel has first-hand experience of the vagaries of the Wembley crowd; its hard-to-please restlessness.
Related: England aim to win over Wembley and revive Wonderwall in Spain glamour fixture
6.15pm BST
Preamble We interupt the Manchester City news cycle to bring you live coverage of a football match: England v Spain in the Nations League, aka the World Cup final that wasn’t.
U over it yet, hun? It’s been 73 days since England’s grisly collapse against Argentina, and it’s not getting any better with age. But there’s always a next time in football, and another home European Championship should give England a decent shot in glory.
The road to Euro 2028 begins with four Nations League games in 11 days: Spain (H), Czechia (A), Croatia (A), Czechia (H). The matches against the C-teams are likely to determine whether England qualify for the quarter-finals. In different circumstances, tonight’s game would be a free hit. But the manner of – and reaction to – the Argentina defeat invalidates all that.
In the parlance of our times, Thomas Tuchel and England need to restore public trust. Beating the world champions, who haven’t lost since March 2024, would be a good way to start.
The alternative is less appealing, especially in these febrile times. Never mind the news cycle: if England are hammered tonight, it could be the start of a doom cycle.
Kick off 7.45pm.
