Key Points
- Spain beat England 3-2 at Wembley Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 26, in League A Group 3 of the 2026-27 UEFA Nations League, after Lamine Yamal, Álex Baena and Mikel Oyarzabal scored for the visitors and Anthony Gordon and Harry Kane replied for the hosts.
- Cole Palmer, Declan Rice, Kobbie Mainoo, Marcus Rashford and Tino Livramento had withdrawn from Thomas Tuchel’s squad, with Morgan Gibbs-White and James Garner called up as replacements.
- Spain were without Joan García and Pedro Porro through injury, and the win extended La Roja’s unbeaten run to 39 matches in all competitions.
- It was the first meeting between the sides since Spain won the Euro 2024 final, and Kane missed a second-half penalty that would have made it 3-1 before Spain’s comeback.
- UK viewers watched on ITV1 and ITVX; in the US the match aired on Fox Sports 2, with streaming on Fox One.
Spain beat England 3-2 at Wembley Stadium on Saturday night as the world champions opened their 2026-27 UEFA Nations League campaign with a comeback win. Lamine Yamal, Álex Baena and Mikel Oyarzabal scored for Spain, while Anthony Gordon and Harry Kane replied for Thomas Tuchel’s side, according to BBC Sport.
The League A Group 3 fixture was the first meeting between the sides since Spain beat England in the Euro 2024 final on July 14, 2024. Croatia and the Czech Republic complete the group. Kickoff was at 19:45 BST, which is 23:45 PKT and 2:45 p.m. ET.
How the match unfolded
Spain struck inside two minutes when Marc Guéhi’s error let Yamal steal possession and finish past James Trafford, ESPN reported. England leveled in the 36th minute through Gordon after a Jude Bellingham release, then Kane headed them ahead in the 40th minute, with a final touch off Marc Cucurella.
Kane missed a second-half penalty after Rodri was judged to have fouled Bellingham, slipping and hitting the crossbar. Substitute Baena leveled in the 60th minute after Nico O’Reilly lost possession, and fellow substitute Oyarzabal completed the turnaround in the 74th minute with a dink over Trafford from Baena’s pass. Attendance was 84,525.
England lined up with Trafford; Quansah, Konsa, Guéhi, O’Reilly; Anderson, Lewis-Skelly; Saka, Bellingham, Gordon; Kane. Spain started with Simón; Pubill, Cubarsí, Laporte, Cucurella; Rodri, Fabián; Yamal, Olmo, Williams; Torres, with Baena and Oyarzabal introduced in the 55th minute.
Kickoff time and how to watch
The match started at 19:45 BST at Wembley. In Pakistan, that was 23:45 PKT on Saturday night; in the eastern United States it was 2:45 p.m. ET, and 11:45 a.m. PT.
In the UK, the game was live on ITV1, ITVX, STV and STV Player. In the US, coverage was on Fox Sports 2 and Fox One, with streaming via fuboTV and ViX, according to Sports Illustrated. Italian referee Davide Massa took charge, with compatriot Marco Di Bello on VAR.
Tuchel’s absences
Tuchel was hit hard by withdrawals. Cole Palmer, Declan Rice, Kobbie Mainoo, Marcus Rashford and Tino Livramento all pulled out of the squad with fitness problems, and the England head coach called up just two replacements, Morgan Gibbs-White and James Garner, according to SI and the Evening Standard.
SI also listed Reece James, John Stones and Djed Spence as injured, while Ollie Watkins, Phil Foden and Noni Madueke were left out. Trent Alexander-Arnold was among the players recalled, along with Rio Ngumoha, Jarrad Branthwaite, Myles Lewis-Skelly and Dominic Calvert-Lewin, though Ngumoha was not in the matchday squad.
With Rice and Mainoo missing, Elliot Anderson partnered Lewis-Skelly in midfield, and Quansah started at right-back ahead of Alexander-Arnold.
Spain arrive as world champions
Spain came to London having beaten Argentina in the World Cup final. The win at Wembley extended Luis de la Fuente’s side to 39 matches without defeat in all competitions, ESPN reported, the longest such streak for a European nation.
De la Fuente was without Joan García and Pedro Porro through injury. Ferran Torres started ahead of Oyarzabal, who came off the bench to score the winner, just as he had against England in the Euro 2024 final.
England were knocked out of the World Cup in the semifinals by Argentina before beating France in the third-place playoff, ESPN reported. Tuchel faced heavy criticism for his defensive substitutions in the semifinal, SI noted, and a strong Nations League campaign would help him win back supporters.
Head-to-head
Spain have won six of the last nine meetings, according to SI. Their last Wembley visit brought a Nations League win in September 2018, though England won the return fixture in Spain that October, BBC Sport records show. SI also noted that England have won only two of their previous 13 games against reigning world champions, one of them against Spain in 2011.
What comes next
England next travel to face the Czech Republic on Tuesday, Sept. 29, at 19:45 BST, then visit Croatia on Oct. 3 and host the Czech Republic on Oct. 6. The two sides meet again in the Nations League in Madrid on Nov. 15, according to ESPN. Spain host Croatia on Tuesday.
For more football coverage, visit the LiveNewsWorld soccer section, revisit our guide to the 2026 FIFA World Cup schedule and format, or look back at the draw for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
England took positives from spells of the contest but paid for early and mid-game errors against the world champions, leaving Tuchel’s side with three points still to chase in Group 3.
