Mikel Oyarzabal once again scored the decisive goal against England as Spain overturned a deficit to secure a 3-2 victory in their 2026/2027 UEFA Nations League opener.
Lamine Yamal put the world champions ahead early, but Anthony Gordon and Harry Kane turned the game around before half-time.
England had the chance to extend their advantage after the restart, but Kane missed a penalty, hitting the crossbar after losing his footing with his standing leg.
Spain took advantage of the reprieve as Alex Baena restored parity in the 60th minute before Oyarzabal completed the comeback 14 minutes later, repeating his heroics from the Euro 2024 final against England.
Spain started strongly at Wembley after Marc Guehi was dispossessed while attempting to turn back towards his own goal. Yamal quickly capitalised on the error, stealing the ball and finishing inside the far post after just two minutes.
Ferran Torres thought he had doubled Spain’s advantage shortly afterwards, but his diving header from Fabian Ruiz’s inviting cross was ruled out for offside.
Torres was then denied twice more, with James Trafford making an important save to stop his one-on-one effort before the striker fired wide from another promising position.
Yamal nearly created another opening with an excellent backheel for Dani Olmo, but the midfielder fired wide from a difficult angle. Kane then tested Spain at the other end as England searched for an equaliser.
The hosts levelled in the 36th minute after Nico Williams lost possession, allowing England to launch a swift counter. Gordon exchanged passes with Jude Bellingham before calmly beating Unai Simon from the edge of the box.
England then completed the turnaround four minutes later. Kane got ahead of Aymeric Laporte to meet Nico O’Reilly’s chipped delivery, with Marc Cucurella unable to prevent the ball from deflecting off his thigh and into the net.
England continued positively after the interval and earned a penalty when Bellingham went down following a challenge from Rodri. However, Kane failed to convert, sending his spot-kick against the crossbar after slipping while taking it.
Spain responded in the 60th minute when O’Reilly’s misplaced pass fell to Olmo, who picked out Baena, allowing the substitute to fire past Trafford and make it 2-2.
Oyarzabal then completed Spain’s comeback in the 74th minute. Baena split the England defence with a perfectly weighted throughball, allowing Oyarzabal to lift the ball over Trafford after the goalkeeper rushed from his line.
The defeat ended in disappointment for England, but the hosts pushed Spain throughout the contest. England recorded 12 shots, with four on target and an expected goals (xG) figure of 1.51. Spain managed 15 attempts, five of which were on target, with 1.99 xG.
Spain, meanwhile, extended their unbeaten run to 39 matches in all competitions, with 30 wins and nine draws in 90 minutes, further extending the longest unbeaten streak by a European nation.
However, the world champions showed unusual defensive vulnerability by conceding twice in the first half of an official match for the first time since October 2018, when they conceded three against England in the Nations League.
Spain also conceded more goals in the opening 45 minutes than they did throughout their entire World Cup-winning campaign, when they allowed just one.
Yamal’s early strike was also the third-fastest goal England have conceded at Wembley, while he became the youngest player to score against the Three Lions in a competitive match at the stadium in the last 20 years, aged 19 years and 75 days.
England also suffered from their own mistakes, committing two errors leading directly to goals in a competitive match for the first time since June 2019 against the Netherlands, also in the Nations League.