Oyarzabal completes Spain comeback over England
Mikel Oyarzabal scored the winner against England with a deft chip as Spain came from behind to win 3-2 in its UEFA Nations League opener.
Lamine Yamal gave the world champion an early lead before Anthony Gordon and Harry Kane flipped the script before the break.
But after Kane missed a penalty, Spain rallied to earn three points in its first match since the 2026 FIFA World Cup final, with Alex Baena equalising before Oyarzabal secured the victory, just as he did in the UEFA Euro 2024 final.
Spain made the perfect start at Wembley, with Marc Guehi dispossessed as he turned back towards his own goal. Yamal picked his pocket and ruthlessly punished the mistake, turning his shot in off the inside of the far post just two minutes in.
Ferran Torres then saw a goal disallowed shortly after. Fabian Ruiz bent a lovely cross into the box, but the striker's diving header was executed from an offside position.
Ferran then saw two golden opportunities go begging, with James Trafford making himself big to smother a one-on-one shot, before the Paris Saint-Germain man fired wide from a similar position.
An exquisite Yamal backheel slipped in Dani Olmo, who also fired wide from a tight angle, before Kane bent one wide at the other end in England's first clear-cut opening.
But England needed just four minutes to flip the game on its head. Nico Williams' slip opened the door for a pacy counter-attack, and Gordon played a one-two with Jude Bellingham before slotting it past Unai Simon from the edge of the box 36 minutes in.
With Spain on the ropes, Kane met Nico O'Reilly's chipped cross after getting in front of Aymeric Laporte, and Marc Cucurella could only help it in off his thigh.
England started brightly after the break, with Bellingham winning a penalty after going down under Rodri's challenge. But Kane could not take advantage, smashing it against the crossbar after his standing foot slipped.
"We're playing against the world champions, the European champions, and we went toe-to-toe," Kane said after the match. "On another day for sure we'd have won that game."
Spain made that reprieve count on the hour, with another helping hand from England. O'Reilly's loose pass went straight to Olmo, who picked out Baena to fire past Trafford.
His fellow substitute secured the victory in the 74th minute; Baena cut open England's defence with his throughball and Oyarzabal lifted a lovely dink over Trafford when he rushed off his line.
"Terrible start, the worst start possible," a visibly frustrated England manager Thomas Tuchel said.
"Makes it so, so difficult to be behind against this kind of team. The reaction was very good, very good.
"The third goal was the only one they really scored – the others were from individual, big mistakes."
Indeed it was not all smooth sailing for Spain, with its lengthy unbeaten streak coming under some pressure, but La Roja is now unbeaten in its past 39 matches in all competitions, with only nine of those drawn, extending the longest-such run in history by a European nation.
It did, however, conceded two goals in the first half of an official match for the first time since October 2018, when it let in three at the Benito Villamarin against England, also in the UEFA Nations League.
It was a disappointing loss for England, but it made sure Spain knew it was in a fight.
But England also caused its own problems, making two errors leading to a goal in a competitive match for the first time since June 2019 against Netherlands, also in the UEFA Nations League.
Mikel Oyarzabal Ugarte
Spain
