And Cazorla sealed the win for the European champions when he slotted home from the edge of the area six minutes from time.
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“That gap may always exist, we knew that and knew we had to work very hard defensively to stop them using that ability to create goal scoring opportunities, which we managed to do for the best part of the game”.
England’s manager Roy Hodgson, center, talks with Adam Lallana…
Hodgson has been happy with the players’ attitudes during the five-day training camp in Spain, insisting the conditions will stand them in good stead for next year’s European Championship.
“For 70 minutes I thought we worked hard defensively”.
“We are monitoring it, we are still working on it, but it looks unlikely at this moment in time that he will be able to play tomorrow”.
England stormed through their qualifying group with a flawless set of 10 wins from 10 games.
It was the second goal in as many matches with Spain’s national team for the Villarreal right back.
And it was the visitors who had the first two openings, but neither Raheem Sterling nor Barkley could find the target when well-placed on the edge of the box.
Gerard Pique resumed the role of boo-boy for a section of Spain supporters ” the Barcelona centre-back’s goading of Real Madrid and support for Catalan independence lying at the heart of the discontent.
Thiago was forced off midway through the first half of the 2-0 friendly victory in Alicante and a scan on Saturday showed swelling on the medial collateral ligament, Spain said on their website.
Vincente del Bosque echoed those sentiments, although most of the questions the Spain coach faced revolved around star players such as the out-of-sorts Chelsea striker Diego Costa.
Rooney, England’s record goalscorer, has nine goals in 20 games in all competitions this season, but has lost much of the explosiveness that marked him out as a special talent when he burst on to the scene as a 16-year-old for Everton.
Am impressive performance tonight in Spain could see a further step in Barkley’s global development – and yet another step clear of his stalled predecessor.
Hodgson introduced Tottenham duo Dele Alli and Eric Dier with the latter making his senior global debut.
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The England manager said tough pre-finals friendlies would involve a counter-attacking brand of football, which they did not have to produce in the qualifiers. Fabregas looked like vintage Fabregas with that lovely ball being played ahead.
