Marc Guehi gifted Spain the lead inside two minutes after failing to spot Lamine Yamal closing him down, and the prodigious teenager never looked likely to miss as he bore down on James Trafford’s goal.
Things soon threatened to turn ugly for the hosts at Wembley, as Ferran Torres appeared to have doubled the advantage before the 10-minute mark, only for the offside flag to offer a reprieve.
The Paris Saint-Germain forward timed his run on the next occasion, and Trafford had to be off his line sharply to deny him.
With La Roja well on top, Torres had a third glorious opening when he broke clear of England’s back line once more, but he could only steer his effort wide after Trafford again did well to close the angles.
This profligacy proved costly, as the Three Lions began to grow into the contest before giving Spain a taste of their own medicine with an incisive, ruthless breakaway.
There was some irony in the neat interchange between Jude Bellingham and Anthony Gordon, of Real Madrid and Barcelona respectively, that opened the pitch for Gordon to dash through and equalise.
Luis de la Fuente’s men seemed rocked, and England took full advantage, as Kane’s stooping header deflected in off Marc Cucurella to give Thomas Tuchel’s side a somewhat unlikely lead at the break.
England maintained their momentum after half-time, and Jarell Quansah spurned a good chance for his first international goal, before only a brilliant last-ditch tackle from Aymeric Laporte denied Bukayo Saka.
Rodri’s timing in the challenge was not so good, and VAR rightly intervened to award a penalty for a clumsy foul on Bellingham, but Kane slipped as he hit it, seeing his effort come back off the crossbar before being penalised for a double-kick anyway.
Momentum duly swung once more, and Lamine missed a big chance to level the contest, but a cheap giveaway from Nico O’Reilly allowed substitute Alex Baena to level things up mere moments later.
Both sides had more chances as the game took on an end-to-end quality, but Spain’s class began to show once more, and Mikel Oyarzabal’s delightful clipped finish over Trafford ultimately proved decisive.
Spain have reached the final in each of the last three editions of this competition, and this result won’t hurt their belief that they can go on to hold all of the available major international honours at once.
By contrast, England have now won just one of their last 10 League A fixtures in the Nations League (D3, L6), but Tuchel will nonetheless take some positives from the performance against such proven opposition.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Lamine Yamal (Spain)