Harry Kane denies Man City verdict affected England

Harry Kane said talk of Manchester City's guilty verdict had done nothing to unsettle the three City players in England's squad before the 3-2 defeat to Spain at Wembley.

«There was a discussion, but at the end of the day when we're with England, that's been a big plus for us, we kind of put club football to one side, and it was no different this week».

Marc Guehi and Nico O'Reilly, both drawn from City's ranks, were at fault for two of Spain's goals. Guehi was dispossessed by Lamine Yamal inside the first two minutes, letting the winger in to open the scoring, and O'Reilly's stray pass in his own half handed Alex Baena the equaliser at 2-2 in the 60th minute. Rodri, who left City for Barcelona in the summer, also conceded the penalty that Kane put against the crossbar.

Thomas Tuchel was asked the same question after the match and gave a more guarded answer than his captain. He said he had not made the verdict "a topic" himself and had spent the build-up on Spain, training and team meetings, but added he could imagine his City-linked players discussing it among themselves given they had more free time between sessions than he did.

England still led 2-1 through Anthony Gordon's 36th-minute equaliser and Kane's goal four minutes before the break, before Baena's 60th-minute strike and Mikel Oyarzabal's follow-up in the 74th put Spain back in front for good. Roy Keane, working for ITV Sport, took a firmer line than either Kane or Tuchel, saying the volume of mistakes from top-level players pointed to a squad that had been affected.

The defeat leaves England level on points with Spain in Group C of the World Cup qualifying section, both sides having taken 7 points from three matches, with Croatia a point behind after beating the Czech Republic. Tuchel's side now travel to Prague to face the Czechs on Tuesday, looking for their first win of the campaign.