Tuchel tells England to attack Spain and avoid repeating Argentina mistakes

Thomas Tuchel has warned England they must not repeat the errors made against Argentina if they are to beat Spain on Sunday, insisting his side must show the belief and attacking intent needed to overcome one of international football’s leading teams.

England face Spain at Riyadh Air Metropolitano in Madrid, where the world champions will bring a record 43-match unbeaten run. Spain previously defeated England at Wembley in the UEFA Nations League, but this meeting will decide the group leaders, according to the British newspaper Mirror.

Tuchel said England must trust their own strengths and demonstrate they can defeat the best sides.

“It is a huge stadium and a special occasion. We are facing a team that has forgotten how to lose, so first we have to produce a top-level performance. If we do that, it will give us a huge boost,” he said.

“A win is never guaranteed when you play Spain away from home, but mindset is extremely important. We won today, which makes this game completely different from how it would have felt if we had not won.”

He added: “That was the first step. Now it is important to play with the same mentality we showed at home, attack them, try to make the game physical and impose our strengths on the opposition. That is what we want to see.

“Nobody can predict the result of a football match, but it is important that we show the mentality we are talking about, as well as fighting spirit. We will do that. I am completely confident we can.”

England’s progress at the World Cup was halted by Argentina in the semi-finals after the team dropped deeper, lost its initiative and allowed its opponents to take control. They then beat France in the third-place play-off, lost 3-2 to Spain at Wembley, defeated Czechia and thrashed Croatia 7-0 in Rijeka before beating Slaven Bilic’s Croatia again at Wembley on Thursday.

Tuchel believes England have made “big steps forward since the summer” and reached the final match they wanted, creating a high-pressure occasion.

“We have to go beyond our limits and find out where we really stand. We all feel we deserved a better result in the first game, so we want to take back what we lost in the second meeting,” he said.

“I think we have reached the required level and are ready to win on Sunday. I know what it will take, although nobody can guarantee the outcome. This is the right moment to test how far we have progressed, exceed our limits and prove our project can succeed.”

Tuchel said Spain’s strength should command respect but did not make them unbeatable. He described the Wembley game as an even contest, noting that Harry Kane missed a penalty with Spain leading 2-1, giving England a genuine chance to recover.

“We took time to settle and perhaps had our worst-ever start, conceding early against a confident team. But once we regained our energy and played with the power that had brought us the equaliser, we became stronger,” said Tuchel.

“We played an excellent second half. It was strange that Harry missed the penalty because we were very strong afterwards and deserved to lead 3-1. It was extremely difficult for the opposition to come back that day.

“We made too many costly individual mistakes in our own half, but Spain also made decisive passing errors against Croatia and were not punished. They allowed Croatia to create many dangerous chances and still won, so no team is unbeatable.

“We need an exceptional performance. We are confident and continuing to improve. I believe we have reached the stage we were aiming for and have the chance to reclaim what we lost in the previous meeting.”