UEFA Nations League: 3 reasons why England beat Spain

#3 England had the rub of the green

Jordan Pickford survived a hairy moment when he almost conceded a second half penalty

For as well as England played tonight, when the stats show such domination from Spain in terms of possession and shots on goal, there’s always going to be an element of luck involved to cement a win like this.

In September’s game between the two sides it felt like every decision went in Spain’s favour – most notably the referee’s inexplicable decision to disallow a last-gasp equaliser from Danny Welbeck when he clearly didn’t foul David de Gea. Tonight though, that element of luck appeared to swing the other way.

Spain could’ve scored early on when a wild goalmouth scramble hit Jordan Pickford when the keeper was unaware, and in the second half, they just couldn’t seem to get the killer ball right in order to provide a clear-cut chance.

Of course, Spanish fans would argue they should’ve had a penalty during the second half when an attempted Cruyff turn from Pickford went awry. It did appear that the Everton goalkeeper may have fouled Rodrigo following his mistake – it was one of those decisions that could’ve gone either way – but thankfully for England fans, the referee saw it as a clean tackle.

While it can’t be argued that Spain’s forwards were wasteful – Paco Alacer took his lone chance brilliantly as did Sergio Ramos – on other nights things would’ve gone differently for them and they could’ve scored the 4 goals they needed to beat England. But they didn’t – and that’s the breaks in football sometimes.