England 1-0 Spain: Lionesses claim statement win over the world champions to earn Nations League victory
Report as Jess Park's first-half goal secures England a win over world Champions Spain; Hannah Hampton heroics after the break help the Lionesses earn first Nations League victory of the season
Thursday 27 February 2025 10:00, UK
England secured a statement 1-0 victory over World Champions Spain to secure their first win of this season’s Nations League campaign thanks to Jess Park's first-half goal.
In a repeat of the 2023 World Cup final, England hosted Spain, looking to right the wrongs of an underwhelming display in the competition's curtain-raiser vs Portugal.
It looked as though England were heading towards more of the same early on as Spain dominated. Lucia Garcia saw a point-blank effort cannon off the bar in an attempt to find a reward for early Spanish ascendancy.
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But England weathered the storm and began to mount attacks of their own with Lauren James taking some initiative drawing out an important stop from Catalina Coll. Alessia Russo then made an inspired run, beating Mariona Caldentey as she poked through an effort, which fell kindly for Jess Park to tap home.
As much as England threatened going forward though, it was a formidable defensive display with two vital Hannah Hampton stops, on either side of the break keeping England in it. Spain continued to try and fashion an effort but the experience of Millie Bright and Lucy Bronze at the back was enough to prevent an equaliser.
England came close to a second when Coll spilt a James effort for sub-Chloe Kelly to try and gobble up the follow-up but that was smothered. The Lionesses settle for a huge win to move above Spain in the table. England stay second though, after Portugal beat Belgium 1-0 elsewhere on the night.
Wiegman: We had a point to prove
England boss Sarina Wiegman:
"The win gives us a boost. We showed ourselves again tonight that we can compete with the best. We showed that before, and it was really good now to show them again, mainly to ourselves, but also, of course, it's nice when you play such an intense game. I think the fans were in the stadium a lot of them again, and they really enjoyed the game.
"It was an absolute team performance. We fought for every yard on the pitch against a very good opponent. We had some very good moments in the game too.
"We played in possession well for moments of the game. And of course against Spain, you also know that you have to defend really well to keep the ball out of the net and we did that well. Overall, I'm really happy with how the team stood up.
"We just wanted to do it a lot better than Friday. I think Friday, we spoke about that. We had momentum, and then we lost momentum. And then, of course, we tied. And we wanted to prove to ourselves we could do better, and we actually knew that we had to step up and do better."
