Spain 2 England 3: Three Lions rampant in Uefa Nations League thriller as Raheem Sterling stars in Seville

Be honest, you were worried. The glow of a glorious summer had begun to fade and the dissenting voices, who insisted all along that Gareth Southgate's England side had lost to the only good sides they had faced in Russia, were growing a little louder.

Fear no more. England finally proved that the World Cup was no false dawn, producing arguably the finest 45 minutes of the Southgate era to topple Spain 3-2 in Seville.

A Raheem Sterling double that came either side of Marcus Rashford's strike put England three up before half-time, and though they rode their luck after the interval, Paco Alcacer's goal proved only a consolation, with Sergio Ramos' 97th minute header coming too late to affect the game.

Harry Winks and Joe Gomez came in for the suspended duo of Jordan Henderson and John Stones as Southgate confirmed his new commitment to a 4-3-3 by making just one unforced change from the side which drew 0-0 in Croatia on Friday.

That was a like-for-like swap, with Kieran Trippier coming in for Kyle Walker at right-back, but it was to be Southgate's unchanged front three who stole the show with a brilliant first-half performance.

The opening goal was a thing of beauty too, involving 17 passes in a move that sparked into life when Jordan Pickford brilliantly bypassed the Spanish press to find Rashford on half way.

The Manchester United man looked up and played a perfectly-weighted ball into Sterling, who finished brilliantly into the top corner with the confidence of a man who is a regular scorer at club level, rather than one without an England goal since 2015.

Rashford, who missed two sitters in Croatia, then put some demons of his own to bed, finishing off another move that began with Pickford. This time Harry Kane took the plaudits, showing magnificent hold up play to shrug off Sergio Ramos and tee up Rashford to finish past club mate David De Gea.

A Spanish side that have played with confidence and verve from the minute Enrique arrived in the dugout after their World Cup disaster, suddenly looked shot.

Ross Barkley clipped a delightful ball over the top for Kane - having his best game in an England shirt since the last-16 win over Colombia - who knocked down to leave Sterling the simplest of tap-ins for his second and England's third before the break.

All the excitement in the England camp before this international break had been around the emergence of Jadon Sancho, but Spain had a Borussia Dortmund super sub of their own and Alcacer pulled one back just before the hour mark with his first touch after coming on.

Spain should have had the chance to make it 3-2 from the penalty spot when Pickford was caught trying to be too clever in his own box by Rodrigo, but unbelievably, the referee, linesman and fifth official all missed his tug on the Spain forward that would surely have been a red card too.

A lack of game management had been another of the criticisms thrown at England in the cold light of day following the semi-final defeat to Croatia, and this was a test of it once again.

It was something of an irony that, to try and hold on, Southgate reverted to the formation that he admitted England would need to move on from to progress, introducing Walker as a third centre-back in place of Ross Barkley.

But hold on they did - despite Sergio Ramos scoring with the last touch of the game.