Friendly international

Spain 1 - England 0

Spain followed in the footsteps of their under 21 side, beating England 1-0 in the Santiago Bernabeu stadium. The only goal came in the ninth minute when Del Horno slipped in behind the defence to head Xavi's long corner over the head of the out of position Robinson. The keeper made up for it a few minutes later though, saving a hotly disputed penalty from Raúl after the two had been involved in an incident in the penalty area. But it was an angry match, with a frustrated England side resorting to hard tackles against a technically better opponent, in particular by Rooney who was taken off by Eriksson shortly before half time after trying to push Casillas into a group of photographers. The game fell apart in the second half as both managers made the maximum six changes, and there were virtually no attempts at goal in the second 45 minutes. And racist chants from some sections of the crowd against Cole and Wright-Phillips created a hostile atmosphere in what was anything but a friendly match. (17.11.04)

PS. Following the racist chants at last night's match and the enormous outcry which followed, the Spanish Federation has announced it will be carrying out an investigation to find out what went on and to decide on future actions to take to prevent this from happening again. If you wish to write to them about the incidents, you can do so at webmaster@rfef.es. (18.11.04)