SPAIN 2 - ENGLAND 3 | UEFA NATIONS LEAGUE

SPAIN hosted ENGLAND for their Group clash of the UEFA NATIONS LEAGUE. Important match for both as a Spanish win tonight would have put them directly into the final 4, while England needed to win to keep alive their chances & more importantly avoiding relegation to a lower Group.

The final result was Spain 2 - England 3 with the visitors doing the damage in the 1st half with all 3 goals. Spain put up a better performance in the 2º half scoring & creating chances but the English defended well & kept onto their earnt advantage from the 1ºst half.

Starting 11 teams:

SPAIN: David De Gea; Jonny, Nacho, Sergio Ramos, Marcos Alonso; Sergi Busquets, Saul, Thiago; Asensio, Rodrigo & Aspas.

ENGLAND:  Pickford; Trippier, Gomez, Maguire, Chilwell; Barkley, Dier, Winks; Sterling, Rashford & Harry Kane.

The 1ºst half was a shocker from Spain which was overpowered by the English counter-attacking system. Poor defending by all back four defending Spaniards, with Ramos & Nacho out of position & all slow. England pressured the Spaniards when they had the ball & forced mistakes which allowed them to take advantage of the spaces left unattended by Spain.

Harry Kane acted as the forward reference to get the ball & lay onto the speeding & attacking Sterling & Rashford to finish off the job. Plan worked perfectly for them as England was 0 - 3 by half time.

0 - 1 (16') Raheem Sterling
0 - 2 (29') Marcus Rashford
0 - 3 (38') Raheem Sterling

Much better 2º half from Spain with control of the game & creating numerous goal opportunities. Spanish Coach Luis Enrique made substitutes (Ceballos for Saul; Alcacer for Aspas & later Morata for Rodrigo) which gave Spain more vertical push forward & speed. 

The extra Spanish "aggressiveness"  & push gave their prizes when Paco Alcacer headed a goal to lift Spain & give them hopes of attempting a comeback.

1 - 3 (58') Paco Alcacer

The Spanish momentum continued & could have received a penalty when English Goalkeeper Pickford lost a ball to Rodrigo & fouled the Spanish forward before giving away a corner. The referee only saw a corner & denied Spain a penalty which could have really changed things.

From here onwards, barring an English occasion or two, Spanish attacked non-stop & bombed the English goal square, but were not able to finish off their opportunities, hitting the post etc. Spain finally managed a second goal late with a Ramos header in the last moment

2 - 3 (97') Sergio Ramos

England had defended well during the difficult last moments & managed to hold out the Spaniards to secure the victory & most importantly 3 points.

Great match, England played a top first 45 mins, while Spain showed "grit" & pride to at least pull back two goals. Spain will complain about the penalty not given but England takes the 3 points & gives Spain some things they need to rethink for future matches. Spain defensively was bad & is not fine tuned yet.