Thomas Tuchel says England should go to Madrid with the same mindset they showed at home, attack Spain, and see how far they have come. The rematch in the Spain vs England game has become a winner-takes-all fixture to top the group, and Spain arrive unbeaten in 43 straight matches.

"Push our limits. See where we are."

Tuchel's demand for a top performance

Tuchel did not hide what he wants from the night. "It's a massive stadium, it's a massive occasion. It's a team that has forgotten how to lose, so of course it requires a top performance first of all," he told mirror.co.uk.

He also said England must "attack them and try to make it a physical game, and try to impose our strength." That is the right ambition. Against a side on a 43-game unbeaten run, England are not going to stumble into control. They need to take the game to Spain and make the contest uncomfortable.

The rest of Tuchel's message was about belief. "I think we're there, and I think we're ready to win on Sunday," he said, adding that the match is a chance to "check how far we are" and push the limit. He has already framed it as more than a result night, and that is fair. England have won 4 of their last 5 Nations League matches and scored 16 goals in that run, while Spain have scored 14 in theirs. This is a meeting between two teams arriving with form, not a team trying to survive a better one.

England's previous meeting with Spain at Wembley ended 3-2 to Spain, with Harry Kane missing a penalty at 2-1. That result still hangs over the rematch, but Tuchel's point is that this trip should tell him something more useful than whether England can keep the score respectable.

Madrid, history and the wider risk

Madrid also carries some obvious history. England have not played a fixture there since 2004, when Ashley Cole and Shaun Wright-Phillips were subjected to repeated baiting and monkey chants by large elements of the 60,000 crowd. Tuchel said the anti-racism protocol is in place and that the players know it, adding that "the best answers are on the pitch."

That is the part of the night that cannot be ignored, even if it is not the football story itself. Spain's record and the setting make this feel like a proper away test, not a routine group fixture.

Tuchel also said "no one is unbeatable" after pointing to chances Spain conceded against Croatia. That does not make Spain ordinary. It does, though, leave room for England to approach the game with conviction rather than caution.

Djed Spence is among those Tuchel said are out for tomorrow, with the hope that he and Konsa can train individually on Friday and with the squad on Saturday. Even with that uncertainty, the main issue remains the same. England's trip to Spain is a check on their level, and Tuchel has made clear he wants the answer to come from the performance as much as the result.

Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 3 outlets. How we work →