England Avenge Spain Defeat

By Joshua Walters, Max Wise

A commanding first-half performance was all England needed as the Three Lions recorded a historic 3-2 win over Spain at the Estadio Benito Villamarín in Sevilla on Monday.

Gareth Southgate’s men dominated the first half of the UEFA Nations league, took their chances as they came, and swept away Spain with three goals, courtesy Marcus Rashford's 30th-minute strike in-between Raheem Sterling's 16th and 38th minutes goals.  

Luis Enrique’s Spain took over the second half, pinned England deep into their own half, but managed to score two goals through Paco Alcacer’s 58th-minute header and Sergio Ramos's header eight minutes into injury time.

It was a perfect revenge for England, who lost the reverse fixture by 2-1 at the Wembley Stadium.

The win was England’s first win in Spain in 31 years and represented the Spanish side’s first competitive home defeat in 15 years.

Spain still top Group-4 with six points out of three games and are followed by England who have four points in as many games while Croatia occupies the third spot with a point from two games.

Marcos Alonso nearly sent the hosts into the lead in the 5th minute, but his shot into the penalty box was saved by Jordan Pickford, before Eric Dier picked up the first yellow card of the game in the 12th minute for a bad tackle on Sergio Ramos.

Marcus Rashford slipped the ball through to Raheem Sterling in a swift counter-attack in the 16th minute, and the wing-forward darted into the box to unleash a magnificent shot into the top left corner. 

Jordan Pickford denied Alonso from restoring parity by saving his header towards the left post in the 23rd minute, and Rashford extended the lead in the 30th minute with a perfect ending to yet another counter-attack.

The Manchester United striker had acres of space after latching on to a precise pass into the box, and did not hesitate to unleash a great effort which passed his teammate David De Gea. 

Rodrigo shot wide of the left post in the 35th minute, and Raheem Sterling grabbed his brace three minute later by finishing off Harry Kane's pass with a cool hit into the net. 

Spain started the second half with much more intensity and grabbed a deserving consolation goal in the 58th minute through substitute Paco Alcacer.

The Dortmund striker jumped to direct a corner kick into the roof of the net with a well-placed header.

England were left off the hook in the 62nd minute when Spain were denied a penalty appeal after Pickford’s challenge on Rodrigo to whom he had lost the ball in his attempt to dribble from a back pass.

Alcacer spotted Pickford off his line in the 80th minute and sent a curler towards the top corner, but the goalkeeper was alert to the threat, four minutes before Asensio placed a shot at goal from the edge of the box but missed narrowly.

Pickford saved Asensio's shot towards the bottom right corner in the 89th minute, before Sergio Ramos headed in the last action of the game.