Harry Kane conceded England could have beaten Spain "on another day" after starting their Nations League campaign with a 3-2 defeat to the world champions.

England came from behind to lead after a Marc Guehi error gifted Lamine Yamal a second-minute goal, with Anthony Gordon and Kane netting in the space of four first-half minutes.

However, Kane then struck the crossbar after his standing foot slipped when he took a penalty, and Spain flipped the script, with Alex Baena equalising shortly after.

Mikel Oyarzabal then secured all three points for Spain, coming back to haunt England, having also netted the winner in the Euro 2024 final.

England lost a match in which they led at half-time for the first time since June 2019 (versus the Netherlands in the Nations League). They had won 41 of their previous 42 games when ahead at the break since then (D1).

Kane has scored 17 goals in 19 appearances for England under Thomas Tuchel, but having scored 39 of his 40 penalties for club and country in 2023, 2024 and 2025, he has now missed three of his 16 spot-kicks in all competitions so far in 2026.

"I spoke before that we reached good levels at the World Cup but didn't quite put a full 90 minutes together," Kane told ITV Sport.

"Probably similar again. We had a couple of good moments though; that period was as good as we've played in a long, long time, and that's the standard we know we can reach.

"We're playing against the world champions, the European champions, and we went toe-to-toe. On another day, for sure, we'd have won that game.

"We have to take the positives from it. We have to dust ourselves down and go again in a few days."

England have conceded 3+ goals in consecutive matches for the first time since June 1995, having beaten France 6-4 in their third-place play-off at the World Cup.

Overall, they have conceded 13 goals in their last six matches in all competitions, almost double the amount they had shipped in their first 17 under Tuchel (seven).

But the Three Lions were disappointed, as this was also the first time they made two errors leading to a goal in a competitive match since June 2019 against the Netherlands in the Nations League.

"I think it was a bit of a missed chance," Gordon told ITV Sport.

"I thought it was a great game to watch and to play in; some of the attacking play was at the highest level. But I think in a game like that, mistakes cost you.

"You always feel like it's you're giving it away rather than them winning it. But, of course, you could argue both teams because they were as good as us and we were as good as them. I'm just gutted about the mistakes."

Gordon's goal came at the end of a pacy counter-attack, just days after he said England needed to rely on their own strengths instead of trying to match other teams' styles.

Asked if his goal was the epitome of how England should play, he added: "Kind of, if you want to phrase it that way, in terms of what I said in the week about being direct and playing to an English style, being quick, really putting teams on the back foot.

"It kind of summed up what I said, which was quite nice, but ultimately it didn't lead to a victory.

"Like I said a couple of days ago, I don't think there is a gap [to Spain]; I feel like we're right there. We can win that game so easily.

"I don't think there is a gap, and I think if we played them in the final, I would've felt confident. Being confident doesn't always translate into a win, but I think you've seen here tonight that we're a top team."