The contest could have taken a very different path early in the second half when England were awarded a penalty after Jude Bellingham was brought down inside the area. However, Harry Kane uncharacteristically rattled the crossbar with his effort from twelve yards, a miss that seemed to galvanise the Spanish side. Just minutes later, Alex Baena drew the visitors level with a clinical finish on the hour mark, before Mikel Oyarzabal completed the comeback in the 74th minute to extend Spain’s remarkable unbeaten streak to 39 matches across all competitions.
Reflecting on the team’s ability to navigate difficult periods, De la Fuente expressed immense pride in the collective spirit of his squad. “All the praise goes to the players,” he remarked. “They are a group and we talked about this yesterday — we’ve formed a team that goes beyond professional level. We make sacrifices — but the players adapt to the models we impose and I respect their ambition — they want to grow, and there is room for improvement. We had clear chances, but we missed those but I’d like to underline our capacity to come back. Even if we were 3-1 down, we’d have come back like we did from 2-1. The important thing is we bounced back.”