Spain fight back to beat England 3-2 in Nations League opener
World champions Spain overturned a 2-0 half-time deficit to beat England 3-2 at Wembley in the opening match of the UEFA Nations League, with Mikel Oyarzabal scoring the late winner.
Match summary
World champions Spain came from 2-0 down to beat England 3-2 away at Wembley on Saturday, 26 September, in the opening match of this season's UEFA Nations League. Spain created several chances in the first half – Ferran Torres had a goal ruled out for offside, forced a good save from England goalkeeper Trafford, and once rolled a clean chance wide – but failed to open the scoring. England instead adopted a more direct approach and took the lead through Gordon in the 36th minute, before Kane doubled the advantage four minutes later with a header that deflected in off Marc Cucurella.
England had a golden chance to extend the lead when a penalty was awarded, after a VAR review, for a foul by Rodri on Bellingham in the 55th minute. Kane, however, slipped as he struck the ball, touched it twice and hit the crossbar. The miss proved costly: on the hour mark, substitute Baena capitalised on a loose ball lost by O'Reilly to equalise with a low finish from the edge of the box. With 16 minutes remaining, Mikel Oyarzabal – who also scored the winner against England in the Euro 2024 final – lifted a delicate finish over Trafford to complete Spain's comeback and make it 2-3.
Background
This was Spain's first match since winning the World Cup in July, when they beat Argentina 1-0 in the final, with Ferran Torres scoring the only goal. According to beIN Sports, Spain remain unbeaten in their last 38 matches across all competitions, and have won six of their last nine meetings with England, including the Euro 2024 final (2-1) and their previous away trip to Wembley in the 2018 Nations League (also 2-1).
For England manager Thomas Tuchel, the match served as something of a test after a heavily criticised World Cup semi-final collapse against Argentina over the summer, according to The Guardian. His squad was missing Cole Palmer, Declan Rice, Kobbie Mainoo, Marcus Rashford and Tino Livramento through injury.
Spain coach Luis de la Fuente promised before the match that his team would show no complacency, describing England as a "footballing superpower" – third in the FIFA rankings and finalists in the last two European Championships as well as the World Cup. Sources disagree on one squad detail: The Guardian reported that, among players who started the World Cup final, only Pedro Porro was unavailable for the trip to Wembley, while OneFootball quoted de la Fuente naming Porro among the players he was happy with.
