Kane slipped on the penalty that would have made it 3-1. Spain's substitutes won it 3-2

Spain came from behind to beat England 3-2 at Wembley on Saturday, and the moment the game turned belonged to Harry Kane. With England 2-1 up early in the second half, their captain slipped as he took a penalty and hit the crossbar. Spain's substitutes, Álex Baena and Mikel Oyarzabal, then scored the goals that won the Nations League opener and stretched the world champions' unbeaten run to 39 games.

It started badly for England. Thomas Tuchel picked James Trafford in goal ahead of Jordan Pickford, and inside two minutes Marc Guéhi lost the ball trying to play out from the back. Lamine Yamal ran clear and scored. Spain could have been further ahead: Trafford saved one-on-one from Ferran Torres, who also had a goal ruled out for offside.

England equalised against the run of play on 36 minutes, when Jude Bellingham sent Anthony Gordon away on the counter-attack to finish into the corner. Four minutes later Kane, the Ballon d'Or favourite, met Nico O'Reilly's cross with a header that went in despite Marc Cucurella's attempt to block it. Cucurella's mis-hit cross then hit England's crossbar just before half-time.

The penalty came early in the second half, awarded after a VAR review of Rodri's challenge on Bellingham, according to Sky Sports. Kane slipped as he struck it and the ball came back off the bar. On the hour O'Reilly gave the ball away, Dani Olmo found Baena, and the substitute curled a low finish into the bottom corner for 2-2.

Spain's winner came from the same bench. Baena slipped Oyarzabal through on 74 minutes and he lifted the ball over Trafford, two years after scoring the winner against England in the Euro 2024 final. It was his 31st goal for Spain, in his 62nd game, and he was asked afterwards about the second half.

We were better. We gave away the odd transition where they could have hurt us, but overall we're happy. A win is a win, and it's three more points.

Mikel Oyarzabal to TVE

England pushed for an equaliser until the end without finding one, and Tuchel was blunt about how the night had begun.

I think we had the worst possible start against a team like Spain, who loves to control the game and loves to play with confidence and on the ball.

Thomas Tuchel, after the match

He said England made two more big mistakes in their build-up play, survived the chances that followed, and then grew into the game, and that they should have scored a third in the second half. That was the gap. England had the openings to put Spain away, and the world champions took theirs.

Luis de la Fuente said, according to Sky Sports, that Spain were happy with the result and how they played, while accepting there had been spells at Wembley when they had to suffer.

For England, the defeat makes a result in Madrid in November far more important if they are to reach the Nations League finals. Before then they travel to Czechia on Tuesday, while Spain host Croatia in Seville the same night.