Spain punctured England’s post World Cup euphoria by winning 2-1 at Wembley to hand coach Luis Enrique a winning start in the UEFA Nations League.
In their first game since reaching the semifinals in Russia, England was denied a point when Makkelie awarded a foul in favor of Spanish goalkeeper David de Gea for minimal contact with Danny Welbeck, AFP reported.
Before the game, England captain Harry Kane was finally acquainted with the Golden Boot he won at the World Cup ahead of the Three Lions’ Nations League opener against Spain on Saturday.
Near 90,000 crowd at Wembley came to show their appreciation of England’s run to the semifinals in Russia for the first time in 28 years. Kane, who scored six goals in seven games at the World Cup, was presented with the award by England manager Gareth Southgate before kick-off. To mark the occasion, the Spurs striker wore a special pair of gold boots for the clash with the 2010 world champion.
Luke Shaw’s first England start in three years was ended early by a head injury after a collision with Spain’s Dani Carvajal that saw the Manchester United left-back stretchered off in the second half.
Shaw, 23, revealed this week that he could have lost his right leg after suffering fractures of the tibia and fibula during United’s Champions League tie with PSV Eindhoven in September 2015.
Despite returning just under a year later, Shaw had struggled for form until the start of this season when four impressive performances for the Red Devils earned him an England recall.
He repaid the faith shown in him by England manager Gareth Southgate with an excellent cross for Marcus Rashford to open the scoring against Spain. Southgate and United boss Jose Mourinho, who was in attendance at Wembley, now face an anxious wait to see how long Shaw could be sidelined.
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