Tuchel says Spain 'got away with it' in Split, where Croatia put more shots on target

Thomas Tuchel has picked his piece of evidence for Sunday in Madrid. Spain, he said, "had some crucial ball losses against Croatia. They got away with it." England need a win at the Metropolitano to have any chance of finishing first in Nations League Group A3, and Spain have not lost in a men's international record 43 matches.

The game Tuchel was talking about was Croatia 1-2 Spain at the Poljud on Oct. 6. Ivan Perišić headed Croatia in front in the 17th minute and the hosts went into halftime ahead, getting a standing ovation from a crowd of 32,690. Sky Sports' numbers back up the England coach: Spain had 71.9% of the ball, but Croatia had five shots on target to Spain's three, wich is not how the world champions usually look.

Spain still won. Mikel Merino came off the bench, equalized in the 61st minute and scored the winner late, after Perišić had been sent off with a second yellow in the 79th. That is the kind of night that keeps a 43-game run going, and also the kind Tuchel believes England can exploit.

"It's a team that has forgotten how to lose, so of course it requires a top performance first of all," Tuchel said after England beat Croatia 2-1 at Wembley on Thursday. "I think we're there, and I think we're ready to win on Sunday."

He wants a repeat of the approach from September's meeting at Wembley, which Spain won 3-2. Harry Kane missed a penalty that night that would have put England 3-1 up. "It's important that we play with the same mindset that we played at home, and attack them and try to make it a physical game, and try to impose our strength," Tuchel said. "No one is unbeatable."

Spain have 15 points after beating Czechia 2-0 on Thursday, three more than England. Tuchel will be without Marc Guehi, who pulled out with a hip problem and was replaced in the squad by Dan Burn. Ezri Konsa missed the Croatia game with a knee injury but stayed with the group.

Winning the group mostly means a kinder quarterfinal draw in March, and both teams are already through. Tuchel keeps calling Sunday "proof of concept" for the road to Euro 2028. Split showed Spain can be outplayed for stretches. What nobody has managed in 43 games is to make them pay for it.