Spain's Mikel Oyarzabal struck the decisive goal as the world champions punished two costly England mistakes to claim a thrilling 3-2 victory at Wembley in the standout fixture of the opening round of the Uefa Nations League.
Less than 10 weeks after lifting the World Cup, Spain extended their remarkable unbeaten run to 39 matches as they twice recovered from conceding the lead before Oyarzabal settled a dramatic contest in the 74th minute.
The forward, who also scored the winner against England in the 2024 European Championship final, produced another moment of Wembley heartbreak for the hosts with a delicate dink over goalkeeper James Trafford.
Spain took the lead after only two minutes when Lamine Yamal capitalised on Marc Guehi's error deep inside the England half, but Thomas Tuchel's side produced a stunning response before half-time.
Anthony Gordon levelled in the 36th minute after Jude Bellingham released him during a rapid counter-attack before Harry Kane completed the turnaround four minutes later with a header.
England then had a chance to extend their advantage early in the second half when they were awarded a penalty after Rodri was judged to have fouled Bellingham. But Kane slipped as he planted his standing foot and sent his effort crashing against the crossbar.
Spain seized control soon afterwards.
Alex Baena equalised in the 60th minute after Nico O'Reilly's misplaced pass presented the visitors with possession before Oyarzabal produced the decisive finish 14 minutes later.
"There are many matches within a match and we've known how to play them all at every moment," Spain coach Luis de la Fuente said. "England has a lot of talent to hurt at any moment, but we've controlled the game."
The defeat denied England what briefly appeared to be a memorable comeback and left Tuchel frustrated by the manner of Spain's goals.
"Terrible start, the worst start possible," he said. "Makes it so, so difficult to be behind against this kind of team. The reaction was very good, very good.
"The third goal was the only one they really scored – the others were from individual, big mistakes."
Kane acknowledged the quality of England's performance despite the defeat.
"We're playing against the world champions, the European champions, and we went toe-to-toe," he told ITV. "On another day for sure we'd have won that game."
Spain's victory continued their dominance at the top of the international game and gave them an early advantage in Group A3, while England were left to reflect on another painful night against the team that beat them in the Euro 2024 final.
Modric leads Croatia to victory
Elsewhere in Group A3, Luka Modric marked Croatia's new era with another influential performance as they defeated the Czech Republic 2-1 in Prague.
The evergreen captain put Croatia ahead two minutes into the second half before Adam Karabec equalised in the 54th minute.
Marco Pasalic restored Croatia's advantage with 13 minutes remaining, heading home from Ivan Perisic's cross to give Slaven Bilic a winning start following his return as manager.
In Group B1, Scotland began life under Sebastien Pocognoli with a goalless draw in Slovenia, with goalkeeper Jan Oblak denying Oli McBurnie and the visitors several times.
Switzerland made an impressive start to their first League B campaign, beating North Macedonia 3-0 through goals from Remo Freuler and a Zeki Amdouni double.
In Group C1, Joel Pohjanpalo scored a hat-trick as Finland thrashed San Marino 7-0.
