England dominated Spain to an extent very few teams have in recent years. Sadly for them, not in terms of goals. Nor possession. But ownership of the ball is less important than where on the pitch it occurs. Thomas Tuchel’s side had 36 touches in the visitors’ penalty area, a ridiculously high total when put in context of Spain’s last decade.
They allowed just 9.5 touches per 90 minutes at the 2026 World Cup. The combined efforts of Belgium, France and Argentina registered 38 touches in the Spain box in the final three rounds of the tournament. Since available records began (at the start of Euro 2016), the most box touches a side has had against Spain was the 45 Germany had in the quarter-final of Euro 2024. However, that game went to extra time. France had 42 in normal time in the ridiculous Nations League semi-final they lost 5-4 last year, then come England, second best in regular time from a sample of 133 matches.
