Match Summary

Spain Team

England Team

    Match Report (Mike Payne's exclusive report coming shortly)

Asier del Horno's early goal gave Spain victory in an ill-tempered friendly.  He headed home after 10 minutes in a game marred by angry scenes on the pitch and racist chants aimed at Ashley Cole and Shaun Wright-Phillips. Paul Robinson saved a penalty from Spain's Raul following a foul on the same player after 24 minutes.  And England's Wayne Rooney was hauled off after 41 minutes to spare him a red card after being cautioned and clashing with several Spain players.

Aside from all the turmoil, England coach Sven-Göran Eriksson will have learned little from an abject and disjointed performance which contained few chances.  England had captain David Beckham back in their ranks - but they were a goal down inside 10 minutes.

The old England failing at set-pieces surfaced again, when a corner caused confusion and Del Horno headed home from eight yards.  Spain were outclassing England, but they were handed a very fortunate opportunity to double their lead after 24 minutes.  Goalkeeper Robinson produced a perfectly-timed challenge to rob Raul, and was stunned to see referee George Kasnaferis point to the spot.

England were furious, but justice was done as Robinson dived to his left to save Raul's penalty.  The rest of the half degenerated into a spiteful affair on and off the pitch.  England defender Cole was the target for clear racist chanting, while Rooney stoked up the temperatures with an astonishing display of petulance and aggression.  The Manchester United teenager was fortunate to escape without a yellow card for a wild challenge on Joaquin.  And seven minutes before the interval he was cautioned for a dangerous push on Spain goalkeeper Iker Casillas which risked seriously injuring the Real Madrid star as he tumbled off the pitch.  One more wild challenge on Carlos Marchena prompted Eriksson to humiliatingly haul off the youngster for his own protection and prevent a red card, sending on Alan Smith.

Cole was then cautioned for a tackle on Michel Salgado, although in his defence it was likely the Arsenal defender was in a furious mood after being subjected to disgraceful treatment from the crowd. 

England began the second-half more brightly, with Smith heading narrowly over. But Spain soon resumed control, and England captain Beckham was substituted holding his ribs on the hour.  Wright-Phillips was his replacement, and he too was greeted by racist chanting from the Madrid crowd.  Miguel Angel Angulo, making his Spain debut, had the chance to make his mark as a substitute when he was clean through after 77 minutes, but he blazed wildly over.

Fifa probes Spanish racist chants

Fifa is to investigate after Spain fans hurled racist abuse at England's black players in Wednesday's friendly.  England's Shaun Wright-Phillips and Ashley Cole were subjected to monkey chants in Madrid, prompting a furious reaction from the Football Association. 

In a statement, Fifa said: "We are concerned about the latest surge of racism and harshly condemn this. We will demand explanations from the Spanish football association."

Fifa president Sepp Blatter said football had the potential to be a powerful anti-racist force.  "There is no room whatsoever for racism or discrimination in our sport. On the contrary, football is a tool for building bridges and nurturing tolerance,.  The world is already too full of conflict that has its roots in racism and discrimination. Football has a positive influence."

Tony Blair joined the criticism of the abuse, with a spokeswoman for the Prime Minister saying he was "very disappointed" by what happened.  "He believes racism has no part to play in sport or in any other matter," she said on Thursday.

The FA's head of media, Adrian Bevington, said earlier on Thursday that his organisation would be sending a letter of complaint to the Spanish Federation, as well as Fifa and Uefa.  "Football as a whole should stand up and express its disgust at what has gone on here. Quite frankly, it's a disgrace."

Sports minister Richard Caborn said: "I will write to my Spanish counterpart to express my outrage. I would like the Spanish FA to condemn the scenes.  I also expect Fifa and Uefa to fully investigate the issue.  There is no place for racism in football or modern society, and I strongly believe that action needs to be taken at the highest level."

Spanish sports minister Maria Jesus san Segundo said the country was committed to promoting equality between people of different races.  "Spain condemns any racist manifestations that take place in the sports arena, or any other public place.  We will very seriously study what can be done especially regarding the re-inforcement of teaching in social values in schools."

England coach Sven-Göran Eriksson said: "It's very bad to hear when people boo players because of the colour of their skin. At Lazio four years ago we had some fans who did the same. When things like this happen, then something must be done."

Piara Powar, spokesman for British football's anti-racist organisation Kick It Out, said: "Uefa needs to threaten the Spanish with closure of stadia, with a ban."

The FA had already complained to Uefa after several England U-21 players were targeted in their game on Tuesday and it will now be highlighting the incidents during the senior game. 

Captain David Beckham, who plays at the Bernabéu for Real Madrid, admitted the chanting had surprised him.  "I was surprised but it's something the FA and world football are trying to cut out and they are working very hard," he said.

Taylor wanted England to walk off

Players union chief Gordon Taylor says England should have walked off in the game with Spain after racist abuse from home fans towards their black players.  The Football Association is to complain over the incidents but Taylor says it should have acted at the time. The chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association told the BBC: "My members were being humiliated."  But Uefa said England's players were right not to walk off the pitch in protest at the crowd's behaviour.  Taylor said he was appalled that monkey chants were directed at Ashley Cole and Shaun Wright-Phillips, while several England U-21 players were targeted in their game on Tuesday.

"The message should have come from the FA directors to say we will take responsibility and take them off.  We have to say 'enough is enough' and set an example. It's about human dignity.  We should have set an example in that the game is more important than winning or losing."

But Uefa spokesman William Gaillard, told BBC Radio Five Live that leaving the pitch would have set a precedent.  "We would not condone such behaviour for the very simple reason it could lead to all sorts of abuse.  I don't think we should advise this kind of behaviour for merely technical reasons, because we would have hundreds of cases in which players could walk off the pitch and say 'I heard someone shouting something'. I don't think this is the right attitude."

The match fell under Fifa authority rather than that of Uefa as it was a friendly - but the FA is writing to both authorities as Uefa is responsible for the leading the campaign against racism in European football.  Gaillard denied that Uefa's punishments for racist chanting are too lenient.  Referring to a hypothetical situation in European club football rather than last night's clash, he added: "It would be unfair to kick out a whole club because of the behaviour of a few fans."

Caborn rebukes FIFA for leniency

Spain escaped with a fine of less than £45,000 over the racist abuse of England's black players because the incidents did not appear in the referee George Kasnaferis's report.  The world governing body Fifa was concerned that any punishment ordering Spain to play international matches behind closed doors - or even a suspended sentence - would have led to a legal challenge in the Spanish courts.  Without Kasnaferis's testimony about the subject in his match report, Fifa's disciplinary committee considered, the imposition of a fine was the limit of their powers.

Fears of a legal challenge led to the 100,000 Swiss francs (£44,750) fine and reprimand that was handed down on Tuesday. However sources at the Football Association expressed their dissatisfaction with Fifa's punishment. "Everyone in the stadium - and everyone watching on television - could hear the abuse," said one. "It is beyond belief that the referee did not mention it in his report."

This was a test case for Fifa's disciplinary committee, which has never had to consider racist incidents.Those involving other international teams - England were fined £67,125 for racist chanting in a Euro 2004 qualifier against Turkey - have occurred in matches organised as part of a Uefa competition and have been handed down by Uefa. England's trip to Spain was a friendly fixture under the auspices of Fifa.

The sports minister Richard Caborn believes Fifa has left itself open to accusations that it has not treated the abuse seriously enough. "I think it is an opportunity missed for Fifa to have stamped its authority on the incident and shown that football and sport in general is not going to tolerate racism," said Caborn. "We were looking for some symbolic action to say that we cannot allow this sort of behaviour - and Fifa has not done that."

Caborn also called on Fifa to review its procedures regarding racist incidents. "I hope now that in the longer term it will give authority to the fourth official to suspend matches where there is racist abuse of the type we witnessed in Madrid and, if the chanting continues, then to abandon games altogether," he said.

There will be no appeal from the governing body of football in Spain, where the reaction to the punishment has been comparatively muted. In the media the fine has been described as a "multazo" rather than a "multa" - a big fine, rather than just a fine - and reports have echoed Fifa's threat that any recurrence will lead to games behind closed doors.