Roy Keane disagreed with Anthony Gordon's assessment that England are at the same level as Spain after the World Cup winners came from behind to beat Thomas Tuchel's side 3-2 in their Nations League opener. Spain extend their unbeaten run to 39 games with the win at Wembley, but the game could have had a very different outcome had Harry Kane not missed a second-half penalty after he headed England 2-1 in front before the break. The momentum shifted in Spain's favour after Kane's slip, with Alex Baena equalising off the bench before setting up the winner, scored by fellow substitute Mikel Oyarzabal, who broke England hearts in the Euro 2024 final.
Gordon, who scored England's equaliser from a terrific counter-attacking move, felt the performance was enough to win them the game and showed that they are a top team. "I don't think there is a gap [to Spain] I feel like we're right there," Gordon told ITV Sport. "We can win that game so easily.
If the penalty goes in we can go on and win the game. In hindsight it's always easy to say that. But I felt good in the game.
"I don't think there is a gap and I think if we played them in the final I would've felt confident. Being confident doesn't always translate into a win, but I think you've seen here tonight that we're a top team." Responding to the England forward, Sky Sports pundit Roy Keane said on ITV Sport: "I disagree with Gordon, I think there is a gap. I think there is, obviously [Spain are] world champions, European champions." England scored two goals in the space of four first-half minutes just before half-time - more goals than Spain conceded in the entire World Cup - but failed to capitalise on their dominance after the restart with Kane's spurned penalty proving to be the turning point.
Spain, meanwhile, were ruthless with Lamine Yamal pouncing on Marc Guehi's error to open the scoring after two minutes and Baena's second-half equaliser coming directly after a misplaced pass from Nico O'Reilly. "We did everything today to beat Spain," Tuchel said after the game. "Details matter on this level.
Clear-cut mistakes were too high on our side unfortunately. In the last 20 metres they were more clinical and composed to convert our ball losses into clear-cut chances. "Still we had them and we had our chance to beat them." He added: "We wanted desperately to be the team to beat them.
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