NEWS
Spain's Substitutes Turn Top Match Against England Around
The world champions prevail in the Nations League opener at Wembley. England squanders a halftime lead, Harry Kane misses a penalty.
Spain starts their UEFA Nations League campaign with a 3-2 away win against England.
At a sold-out Wembley, the newly crowned world champion gets off to a better start, taking the lead after just two minutes through Lamine Yamal. The 19-year-old capitalizes on a mistake by Marc Guehi and calmly slots it past James Trafford.
England Turn the Game Around
Spain then had further opportunities but failed to extend their lead. Ferran Torres squandered several good chances.
England grew stronger in the course of the first half and turned the game around within four minutes. Anthony Gordon completed a quick counter-attack to make it 1-1 (36'), before Harry Kane headed in to make it 2-1 (40').
Shortly before halftime, Spain was unlucky when a cross from Marc Cucurella only hit the post.
Kane Misses from the Spot
After the break, England had a great chance to make it 3-1. Following a VAR intervention, a penalty was awarded for a foul by Aymeric Laporte on Bukayo Saka.
However, Kane slipped while taking the shot and blasted the ball against the crossbar (54'). As the captain also touched the ball twice while slipping, a goal would not have counted anyway.
Spain remained dangerous and eventually equalized. Alex Baena scored five minutes after his substitution to make it 2-2 (60').
Oyarzabal Seals the Win
England then had the chance to retake the lead through Bukayo Saka, but his curling shot went just wide (66').
At the other end, the Spanish substitutes struck again. Baena set up Mikel Oyarzabal, who brilliantly lobbed the ball over Trafford to make it 3-2 (74').
Spain then held onto the win, remaining unbeaten in their 39th consecutive competitive match. For England, this was another setback after their World Cup disappointment.
Croatia Wins Parallel Match
In the parallel match, Croatia won 2-1 in the Czech Republic. Veteran Luka Modric (47') and Marco Pasalic (77') scored for the Croatians, while Adam Karabec scored the temporary equalizer (54').
Spain now leads Group A3 ahead of Croatia. England will visit the Czech Republic on Tuesday (20:45), while Spain hosts Croatia in Sevilla at the same time.
