Lamine Yamal opened the scoring in just the second minute at Wembley, punishing an unfortunate defensive error by Marc Guehi to give Spain the lead against England in theirs UEFA Nations League match.
Playing their first game since beating Argentina 1-0 to win the World Cup, Spain conceded an early goal with Manchester City defender Guehi turning into his own goal under pressure from Yamal and giving possession to the Barcelona superstar.
This allowed Yamal to go one-on-one with James Trafford, and he made no mistake as he lifted the ball over the Leeds United keeper with an effort that went off the post.
Yamal’s goal, which crossed the line with one minute and 44 seconds on the clock, marked the third fastest goal England have conceded at Wembley, after first-minute goals by Hungary in 1953 and Scotland in 1957.
Ferran Torres looked to have made it 2-0 in the ninth minute when he deflected Dani Olmo’s cross, only for his effort to be correctly ruled out for offside.
And England were grateful at Trafford to maintain their one-goal deficit as they denied Torres with a fine save after the Paris Saint-Germain striker was played in for a chance to double Spain’s lead.
Torres was then guilty of a terrible miss when he latched on to a perfectly weighted pass from Rodri, only to somehow deflect his shot wide of the target.
England are winless in their last two games at Wembley after drawing with Uruguay and losing 1-0 to Japan ahead of the World Cup, and their start against the world and European champions offered little to suggest they would prevent that run from extending to three games.
