25′ England win a second free-kick and Trippier delivers another cross on the money. Kane makes contact 18 yards from goal, although he cannot generate the power to beat De Gea.
24′ Spain make a poor decision to rush out to attempt to catch a host of England players offside. There’s a miscommunication and one defender stays back. It almost allows Kane a free shot on target from Maguire’s knockdown, but Saul and Carvajal recover to stop the strike.
23′ Kane gets caught in the air by a rash challenge by Nacho. England are awarded a free-kick inside the Spain half, with Trippier standing over the ball.
22′ Rodrigo lines up a strike from distance on his left foot, only to drag his effort harmlessly wide of the post.
20′ Both teams are applying pressure on the ball high up the pitch, which is forcing both sets of defenders to be accurate with their offloads.
18′ Henderson brings down Alonso on the charge and goes into the book, although there didn’t appear to be a lot in the challenge.
18′ Rashford’s opener (assisted by Shaw) was the first England goal scored and assisted by two Manchester United players since November 2012, when Ashley Young assisted Danny Welbeck against Sweden
17′ Lingard knocks Trippier’s cross back to Alli on the edge of the box, only to be denied by an inch-perfect tackle from Carvajal.
15′ It has been an end-to-end start to the match as both sides do not look overly convincing at the back.
Rodrigo
Assist
13′ Rodrigo breaks into the right inside channel and forces the ball across the face of goal enough to tee up Saul.
Saúl
Goal
13′ GOALLLLLLLLL!!!! SAUL RESPONDS IMMEDIATELY FOR SPAIN!!!! 1-1!! La Roja equalise as Saul fires an effort past Pickford from close range. Shaw was the architect for England’s goal, but he makes a rash decision defensively and allows Spain to probe down the left. Rodrigo takes over from Carvajal sending a cross into the middle. Saul makes the run, guiding an effort on the half-volley past Pickford at his near post.
L. Shaw
Assist
11′ Shaw makes a headed clearance at the back before collecting down the left. He sends a perfect cross to the back post for Rashford to score.
M. Rashford
Goal
11′ GOALLLLLLLLLLL!!!! RASHFORD PUTS ENGLAND AHEAD!!!! 1-0!!!!! The Three Lions have the advantage as Rashford slots home his strike from close range. Shaw created the goal from start-to-finish. England were able to break out from the back following Shaw’s clearance. He made the move down the left flank to collect Kane’s pass out wide. The Manchester United left-back sends a pinpoint cross to the back post for Rashford to slide past De Gea.
10′ A long ball forward from the back for La Roja almost finds the run of Rodrigo. Shaw reacts well to cover ground to head clear ahead of the forward.
9′ England defend the set-piece with relative ease and come forward over the half-way line. Kane tries to thread a pass through to Rashford, but his offload is intercepted by Nacho.
8′ Gomez brings down Saul on the flank, handing Spain a free-kick in a decent position on the left flank.
6′ England spread the ball around the final third for Shaw, but are unable to play their way through the Spain backline, who hold firm under the first pressure of the contest.
4′ Aspas tries to break behind the England backline away from Maguire’s challenge, but the defender does enough to force him away from goal.
3′ Ramos sends a searching ball over the top of the England backline for Thiago’s run, but the midfielder is caught offside before he can shoot.
2′ England apply pressure on the ball when Spain are knocking it around at the back. Ramos receives boos from the Wembley crowd when in possession.
1′ We’re underway at Wembley.
Kane receives his Golden Boot from the World Cup before kick-off for notching six strikes in the tournament.
England have failed to find the net in six of their last nine clashes with Spain (six goals), although the Three Lions did net twice in their last meeting in November 2016 (2-2).
England have won just three of their last 12 internationals against Spain (won three, drawn three, lost six), claiming victory only once in the most recent six encounters (won one, drawn one, lost four).
Enrique has made a couple of interesting decisions in his first team. Jordi Alba was left out of the squad completely therefore Alonso takes over at the left-back spot. Gerard Pique’s retirement sees Nacho start alongside Ramos, while Saul gets the nod to start in the midfield to replace the void left by David Silva. Aspas leads the line with Rodrigo and Isco after Diego Costa was left out.
Southgate has made the decision to play Gomez ahead of Walker on the right side of England’s defence. Gomez has impressed at the start of the season for Liverpool after missing the end of the last campaign and the World Cup due to injury. Shaw makes his first start for England in three years, replacing the role filled by Ashley Young in the summer. Raheem Sterling’s injury has allowed Rashford to start alongside Kane in the final third.
Spain subs: Raul Albiol, Inigo Martinez, Alvaro Morata, Suso, Kepa Arrizabalaga, Cesar Azpilicueta, Rodrigo, Jose Gaya, Sergi Roberto, Marco Asensio, Dani Ceballos, Pau Lopez.
SPAIN (4-3-3): David de Gea; Daniel Carvajal, Nacho, Sergio Ramos, Marcos Alonso; Thiago Alcantara, Sergio Busquets, Saul Niguez; Rodrigo Moreno, Isco, Iago Aspas.
England subs: Kyle Walker, Jack Butland, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Danny Rose, James Tarkowski, Eric Dier, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Fabian Delph, Danny Welbeck, Alex McCarthy, Marcus Bettinelli.
ENGLAND (3-1-4-2): Jordan Pickford, Joe Gomez, John Stones, Harry Maguire; Jordan Henderson; Kieran Trippier, Jesse Lingard, Dele Alli, Luke Shaw; Marcus Rashford, Harry Kane.
Let’s take a look at the two sides this evening, starting with the Three Lions.
Luis Enrique takes charge of Spain for the first time after replacing Fernando Hierro. La Roja endured a disappointing World Cup performance after preparations were disrupted on the eve of the tournament when Julen Lopetegui was sacked. Hierro did his best in a difficult position, although his side crashed out at the hands of Russia in the round-of-16. Enrique will want to kickstart his reign with a victory over the Three Lions to put the underwhelming summer behind Spain.
England return to action for the first time since the World Cup. Gareth Southgate’s men were able to play above expectations in the tournament, reaching the semi-finals where they were beaten by Croatia. It was the Three Lions’ best performance at the World Cup since 1990 and has given the team momentum to build on for their inaugural Nations League campaign.
Good evening and welcome to the live commentary of the UEFA Nations League Group A clash between England and Spain at Wembley.
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J. Henderson
Yellow Card