England End Spain's 43-Game Unbeaten Run With 3-2 Win in Madrid

England beat world champions Spain 3-2 in Madrid on Sunday, ending the longest unbeaten run ever by a European nation at 43 games and 969 days. Harry Kane, Ezri Konsa and Ben White scored three goals in 12 minutes either side of half-time, and England held on with 10 men after Elliot Anderson was sent off in the 63rd minute to top Nations League Group A3.

How did England score three goals in 12 minutes?

By pressing Spain from the first whistle and then punishing them in a burst either side of half-time. England’s first 10 minutes were, in Declan Rice’s words, probably the best they have played in a 10-minute spell, and Unai Simon had to make a strong reaction save to deny Jude Bellingham while Anthony Gordon had a dangerous shot blocked. The reward came on the stroke of half-time, when Pau Cubarsi clumsily felled Kane in the area and the captain powered the penalty past Simon, who dived the right way but could not reach it. Konsa headed home from a Rice corner in the 53rd minute after being left unmarked, and four minutes later Kane and Bellingham combined to set White up for the third through Simon’s legs.

Why was Kane’s penalty controversial?

Because Spain felt there was a foul at the other end of the move. Sports Mole calls it a controversial penalty: referee Clement Turpin pointed to the spot when Kane went down under Cubarsi’s challenge, and he was unmoved by Spain’s protests that Marc Cucurella had been fouled beforehand. Cucurella was at the centre of a red-card incident of his own earlier this month, when he handed the referee his dropped red card as Ivan Perisic was sent off. It was the kind of decision that would have been argued about for days if England had lost. Instead it became the first goal of the night that ended a two-and-a-half-year streak, and Kane’s scoring run for England now stretches to seven successive away appearances, a feat only Tom Finney had managed before, from September 1946 to May 1948.

How did England survive with 10 men?

By defending the way a team does when it knows what is at stake. Barely moments after White’s goal, Jarell Quansah lost possession on the edge of his own box for the second time in two games, and Anderson felt he had no choice but to bring Lamine Yamal down from behind as the teenager bore down on goal. The red card was, in Sports Mole’s words, the least contentious of the night, which is more than could be said for Gravenberch’s dismissal in the Liverpool-Man City game, where the first yellow split the verdicts. Oyarzabal scored the penalty in the 65th minute, and Gordon gave the ball away in the middle third before Pedri and Fermin Lopez set Yamal free to find Nico Williams in the 75th. From there England held on for more than half an hour with 10 men, with James Trafford, who had vindicated Thomas Tuchel’s call to start him over Jordan Pickford with a series of brilliant saves, denying Yamal and Marc Cucurella late on while Dan Burn headed the last ball out.

What did Tuchel and Rice say afterwards?

Tuchel was delighted and direct. “Brilliant performance. Well deserved win. Overall we were the better team,” he told ITV Sport. “Fantastic performance from start to finish. We brought everything to the table. We were brave. Spirit wise, energy wise and also football quality was highest level. We deserved it. Without the red card we were clear winners.” Rice was just as plain about what the win means. “We knew we could beat them. We knew we were going to beat them today,” he said. “Ten men for half an hour. To win it 3-2 against that team, unbeaten in 43, is a massive thing.” Writing in The Telegraph, Sam Wallace called it “one of their greatest victories”.

What does the result change?

The group, and the seeding for March. Both sides finish Group A3 on 15 points, with England top on goal difference, plus 13 to Spain’s plus 8, after losing the reverse fixture 3-2 at Wembley. England are seeded for the quarter-final draw on Friday and Spain go in unseeded, with the first legs on March 25 and 27 and the returns on March 28 and 30. England have now won 10 consecutive away games, the first time they have ever done so, and the win was their first against a FIFA No. 1-ranked nation away from home since the rankings began in 1992. Spain, for their part, had not lost since Colombia beat them in a friendly in March 2024, back when Jurgen Klopp was still Liverpool manager and Gareth Southgate was preparing England for Euro 2024. The streak is over, and it ended the way streaks usually do: not with a whimper, but with a team that came to Madrid believing it could win. It was also a night when discipline decided the game in Spain, a month after Vinicius was sent off for a hair pull against Villarreal. Italy, meanwhile, crashed out of the Nations League after losing 4-1 in Belgium, a reminder that the same night can end two very different stories.