Spain end England's winning run

Spain forward Mario executes a bicycle kick to score past England defender Chris Smalling in their friendly at the Jose Rico Perez Stadium in Alicante, Spain, on Friday. (Photo: AFP)

Spain struck twice in the final 20 minutes as goals from Mario Gaspar and Santi Cazorla ended England’s 15-match unbeaten run in Alicante on Friday.

Villarreal right-back Gaspar scored a sensational volley to open the scoring when he swivelled in mid-air to turn home Cesc Fabregas’s pass.

And Cazorla sealed the win for the European champions when he slotted home from the edge of the area six minutes from time.

“It is a prestigious result against a very strong team that threatened us the whole game,” said Spain coach Vicente del Bosque.

England boss Roy Hodgson meanwhile lamented his side’s inability to take advantage of their few counter-attacking opportunities.

“The assessment of the result is it is obviously disappointing to lose,” said Hodgson.

“For 70 minutes I thought we worked hard defensively. We always knew how good they are at keeping the ball.

“We were hoping that on a counter-attack we could cause them some problems. We had moments in the game, but we didn’t profit from those moments.”

Hodgson kept his pre-match promise to leave captain Wayne Rooney on the bench with Harry Kane and Ross Barkley given their chance to shine.

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.

Barcelona defender Gerard Pique was once again whistled by some of the home support for his disparaging comments towards Real Madrid in recent months.

However, he nearly provided the perfect response as his deflected effort from 20 yards looped inches wide on 15 minutes. Sergio Busquets then volleyed just off target from a corner as Spain began to take control of the game.