England 1-1 Spain LIVE: Score, goals and Nations League updates; Marcus Rashford nets

England vs Spain: Gareth Southgate’s side return to Wembley for the first time since their best World Cup performance in 28 years

ENGLAND 1-1 SPAIN | RASHFORD (11), SAUL (12)

England XI: Pickford, Maguire, Stones, Gomez; Trippier, Henderson, Alli, Lingard, Shaw; Rashford, Kane.

Spain XI: De Gea, Carvajal, Nacho, Ramos, Alonso, Busquets, Saúl, Thiago, Isco, Aspas, Rodrigo.

• Luke Shaw and Marcus Rashford start for Three Lions
• Marcus Rashford converts from Luke Shaw cross
• Saul Niguez equalises 60 seconds later

ENGLAND 1-1 SPAIN | SAUL

12: Ah, well that certainly wasn’t in the script.

60 seconds after Marcus Rashford gave England the lead, Spain have hit back through Atletico Madrid star Saul Niguez, who drills Thiago’s cutback beyond the helpless Jordan Pickford.

Luke Shaw and Jesse Lingard probably shouldn’t have allowed Thiago to reach the byline. Anyway, we’re level in the Nations League.

ENGLAND 1-0 SPAIN | RASHFORD

11: England have taken the lead, and boy what style!

The Three Lions win possession in their own half and break like lightning through Manchester United’s Luke Shaw. He drives down the left and spots his colleague Marcus Rashford, who simply converts the inch-perfect low cross.

Liquid football from the hosts.

10: Joe Gomez can’t resist jumping in on Saul Niguez and concedes a free-kick on the left touchline. Jordan Pickford gathers, but only after the diminutive Iago Aspas was afforded a free-header inside the penalty area. Not too smart from the Three Lions.

8: I’m quite surprised to see that Marcos Alonso and Sergio Ramos are 12/1 and 20/1 respectively to score the first goal tonight. Worth a pound or two…

England pressing high up the field to cause Spain problems, but the visitors have avoided losing the ball in critical positions thus far.

5: Not affected by the chorus of boos, Ramos plays a sublime crossfield pass to Thiago, who is just offside. I get the sense that the Real Madrid defender quite enjoys the hostility.

3: It’s pretty strange to have Sky coverage for England games. I never thought I’d say I missed Lee Dixon and Mark Pougatch but international football does strange things.

Anyway, it’s been a fairly inauspicious start with Spain happy to play possession football with Sergio Ramos being booed every time he touches the ball… which is quite a lot in a Luis Enrique side.

ENGLAND 0-0 SPAIN

1: And we’re underway. I don’t think anyone’s got a clue how this game is going to play out. I’ll sit on the fence and plump for a 1-1 draw. I’m brave like that.

AWARD/REWARD

19:43: There’s a huge cheer for Harry Kane, who is awarded his Golden Boot award from the World Cup by manager Gareth Southgate. Time for the national anthems. Spain up first…

HERE COME THE BOYS…

19:40: Harry Kane, and his golden boots, lead England out at a sell-out Wembley. There’s plenty of flags flying as they emerge from the tunnel.

I’ll now be accepting your predictions. Before you send them in, I’m already backing Marcos Alonso to score – the guy is an attacking machine.

POINT PROVEN…

19:34: And right on cue, Sergio Ramos’ name is booed mercilessly inside Wembley when his name is read out. I think the thing about pantomime villains is that they quite like being pantomime villains. He just smiles.

SEDUCTION…

19:30: Spain captain Sergio Ramos and his team mates want to seduce world football again after tumbling from the summit of the game.

Spain have had disappointing showings at their last three major tournaments since dominating the world game between 2008 and 2012 when they lifted back-to-back European Championship titles either side of their first World Cup triumph.

They endured a nightmare World cup campaign when they were knocked out by unfancied hosts Russia after Spain coach Julen Lopetegui was sacked on the eve of the tournament.

However, Ramos said there was renewed enthusiasm around the squad since Luis Enrique, who was a serial winner during his three seasons in charge of Barcelona, had take over.

“In the last few years Spain have dropped a couple of levels and our objective is to recover what made us win in the first place,” Ramos said. “The coach and players have a great challenge in front of us in trying to win again. We have a lot of ambition but we have to show it. We want the world to fall in love with us again.”

I suspect Ramos will have a tougher task making Liverpool supporters fall in love with him…

TWITTER ROUND-UP

Rory: Will be great to see Marcus Rashford and Harry Kane up top together, would be fantastic to see them at Spurs together as well!

Sooner: It’s not a vintage Spain team but let’s be honest, a midfield with Busquets, Thiago Alcantara and Isco should run rings round England. Trying to control midfield against technically superior players was England’s weak spot at the World Cup. We’ll see though!

Peter: Lets remember we only beat Tunisia, Panama, Columbia & Sweden in Russia. We lost to Croatia and twice to Belgium. Tonight will give us a much more realistic idea of where England are at.

GOLDEN BOOTS

19:20: Harry Kane will wear a pair of golden boots and I can hardly contain my excitement…

It will be the England skipper’s first international appearance since being awarded the Golden Boot for finishing as the top scorer at the summer’s World Cup.

Tottenham striker Kane scored six goals during the tournament in Russia, helping England reach the semi-finals.

Kane tweeted a picture of the boots, provided by Nike, and wrote: “Buzzing to wear these tomorrow night. Gold boots.”

We’re all buzzing, Harry. We’re all buzzing…

HAPPY CAMPERS

19:10: Gareth Southgate was quick to seize on the apparent disconnect between the Three Lions and the public at large when he arrived in the job.

That problem manifested itself most obviously at the national stadium, where early qualifying games attracted indifferent crowds, occasional boos and an abundance of paper aeroplanes.

Events in Russia completed the job of reviving the relationship and Southgate’s squad have earned a celebratory atmosphere on their return.

NEED A SCALP…

19:05: I’ve been watching a TV show called Mr Mercedes recently, and talk of scalps has me feeling uneasy. You should binge that series the second tonight’s game finishes.

Anyway, England’s progress in the past two years has been tangible and impressive.

Winning pressure knockout games and coming through a penalty shoot-out represent considerable improvements but Southgate is first to admit he has yet to knock a truly elite opponent off their perch.

Despite falling below expectations in Russia, Spain would easily fit that criteria, especially in a competitive environment. England gave away the lead late on last time Spain visited and going one better would be a feather in the cap.

TWITTER ROUND-UP

Bradley: I’m absolutely buzzing that Luke Shaw is actually the best left back in the world again!

Gerard: This is either a 3-5-2 or 5-3-2 formation. Gomez, Maguire, Stones all Centre Backs and Trippier is RB/RM while Luke Shaw is LB/LM. Either way, we got a lot of talented defenders and a few good keepers! Just need more attackers to prove themselves.

Henry: Three years since Luke Shaw made his last start for England, so great to see him starting tonight. Showed real character to fight back from that horrendous tibia and fibia injury against PSV Eindhoven in 2015.

Lots of love for Luke Shaw tonight, who will presumably be delighted to not have Jose Mourinho screaming at him from the touchline…

TEAM NEWS – SPAIN

18:55: Luis Enrique names his Spain squad, and there’s more than a few familiar faces included.

Chelsea’s Marcos Alonso, quite rightly, starts at left-back with former Bolton (yes really) colleague Rodrigo spearheading the attack in the absence of Diego Costa.

Obviously there’s no Andres Iniesta, Gerard Pique and David Silva in the Spain squad, so Saul Niguez, Iago Aspas and Nacho are included.

David de Gea is between the sticks.

TEAM NEWS – ENGLAND

18:50: Right then, let’s take a closer look at this starting XI. Gareth Southgate is sticking to the tactics that earned a semi-final place at the 2018 World Cup with five at the back.

Jordan Pickford retains his place between the sticks with the familiar sight of Kieran Trippier, John Stones and Harry Maguire ahead of him.

But there are new faces in the shape of Liverpool’s Joe Gomes and Luke Shaw, who is enjoying regular first-team football for Manchester United.

Jordan Henderson, Dele Alli and Jesse Lingard form the midfield three with Harry Kane partnered by Marcus Rashford in the absence of Raheem Sterling.

It’s a pretty fluid team selection. That’s what they say nowadays, right? Fluid…

ENGLAND vs SPAIN

18:45: And here comes the starting XI. A quick glance tells me that Gareth Southgate has brought Joe Gomez straight into the fold. He starts in a back three alongside Harry Maguire and John Stones. Manchester Unite duo Luke Shaw and Marcus Rashford also start.

England XI: Pickford, Maguire, Stones, Gomez; Trippier, Henderson, Alli, Lingard, Shaw; Rashford, Kane.

Subs: Walker, Butland, Alexander-Arnold, Rose, Tarkowski, Dier, Loftus-Cheek, Delph, Welbeck, McCarthy, Bettinelli.

BIZARRE

18:40: I’m aware that this story has very little to do with tonight’s clash, but I have to mention it otherwise my head will explode.

John Terry is poised to move to Spartak Moscow on a one-year contract…

Terry, 37, has already undergone a medical and Spartak hinted at an imminent announcement on their Twitter account.

TEST…

18:35: So, after years of tournament failures and steadily dwindling expectations, England’s surprise run to the World Cup semi-finals has given us optimism.

Not a familiar feeling for England supporters, granted, but tonight should provide an early test of the depth of the feelgood factor emanating from Gareth Southgate’s young squad.

Is Southgate’s quiet revolution in full swing, or have Spain recovered from their chaotic World Cup?

EVENING…

18:30: Welcome to our LIVE coverage of England vs Spain from Wembley Stadium.

All the memories of the World Cup are flooding back, right?

I walked into the office this afternoon expecting to see England flags flying from windows, Three Lions blaring from car radios and empty beer cans strewn all over the floor.

No sign of the flags or music but there were plenty of cans…

OK, the hype of this summer’s World Cup has clearly gone, but Gareth Southgate has completed the job of reviving the relationship with the public and there should be a celebratory atmosphere tonight as we start our Nations League campaign.

“What the hell is ‘Nations League?” I hear you ask. I’ll do my best to explain it shortly.

Let’s get those line-ups, shall we?