Thomas Tuchel has described England’s Nations League decider away to Spain on Sunday as a “final” and challenged his players to impose their own style on the world and European champions at the Metropolitano Stadium.
England kept alive their hopes of topping the group by beating Croatia 2-1 at Wembley on Thursday. Nothing less than a win in Madrid will now secure first place, which England’s superior goal difference would deliver, and would in theory bring easier opposition in the two-leg quarter-finals in March.
The scale of the task is considerable. Spain have lost only once in 43 matches, on penalties to Portugal in the 2025 Nations League final — a tie that technically went down as a draw, meaning their run since March 2024 is regarded by some as the longest unbeaten in the history of men’s international football. Since a 0-0 draw with Cape Verde in their opening World Cup group game, Spain have won 12 in a row, including all five of their Nations League fixtures.
“It’s not a must-win game if you go to Spain,” Tuchel said. “But the mindset is important. Beating Croatia so we could have this match was the first step and now it’s important that we play with the same mindset that we played at home — attack them, try to make it a physical game, impose our strength. And we will. I’m very confident about that.” His ambition, he added, is to “push our limits, see where we are”.
England lost the reverse fixture 3-2 at Wembley in the opening round of Nations League matches, Mikel Oyarzabal scoring the winner. Tuchel’s side conceded early and came close to being overwhelmed inside the first 35 minutes before stabilising and going 2-1 up, only for Harry Kane to miss a penalty that would have made it 3-1.
“Once we got our energy going and played with this for the equaliser for 1-1, we were strong,” Tuchel said. “Harry’s penalty was maybe the key moment for us because we were very strong then and deserved to be 3-1 up. It would have been very difficult for Spain to come back against us. We had too many big individual mistakes in our own half on the night.
“But honestly, if you deeply look into the matches … Spain had some crucial ball losses against Croatia and got away with it. They conceded some big, big chances and still managed to win in the end. So no one is unbeatable. We’re full of confidence. It’s exactly what we wanted. We feel that we have something to take that we lost the last time.”
Tuchel has re-geared his personnel this season, partly because of injuries but not entirely. Only 11 members of his World Cup squad featured against Croatia. Ezri Konsa and Djed Spence hope to return against Spain after injury niggles, while Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ben White, Lewis Hall, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Alex Scott and Rio Ngumoha have come into the group. Lewis-Skelly is back from a one-game ban, while Scott is out injured but was at Wembley to watch the Croatia game, a detail that felt significant given Tuchel’s wish to keep him close.
The main tactical tweak has been to give Jude Bellingham greater licence to drift from the No 10 role, to overload on either side and to run on intuition. Others, including the full-backs, have been encouraged to push into out-of-the-ordinary zones. England are no longer a positional team; the idea is that the approach is freer and more fluid, with Tuchel obsessed with finding ways to accelerate the play through midfield. The principles remain, though: aggression, physicality, hard work on the cover, and intensity, including when pressing high. Tuchel is aware that England are not the most economical team. He simply wants them to go for it.
Tuchel, his staff, the players and the Football Association view the Nations League as a springboard into Euro 2028, which England will co-host. They are desperate to reach the four-team finals next June because it would guarantee continued high-grade opposition, and they are desperate to lift the trophy, mainly because winning is a good habit. England’s supporters appear less invested, although that could change if the team advance to the finals, particularly if those games were staged in England. The manager’s mood, meanwhile, has improved markedly since the start of the first Nations League window in September, when he was tetchy and the wounds from the criticism that followed the World Cup semi-final defeat by Argentina were still raw.
“Yeah, I think we’re there,” Tuchel said when asked whether England had come a long way since the summer. “We’re ready to win on Sunday. I know what it takes and while no one can ever guarantee it, I think it’s the moment to check how far we are. And proof of concept.”