England, under Thomas Tuchel, recorded 36 touches in Spain's penalty area, a notably high figure when considering Spain's defensive performance over the last decade. This total is the second-highest in regular time against Spain since records began at Euro 2016, surpassed only by France's 42 touches in a Nations League semi-final last year.
Despite this significant presence in the opposition's box, England struggled to create high-value scoring opportunities. They generated just 0.95 non-penalty expected goals, in contrast to Germany's 2.15 and France's 1.95 in similar scenarios. England averaged 5.1 box touches for each shot from within the penalty area.
Individual player statistics reflected this inefficiency. Bukayo Saka had 10 touches in the box but only one shot, which went wide. Four of his five passes from within the penalty area went away from goal. Spain, by contrast, made their fewer touches count, creating five shots worth at least 0.26 expected goals from their 15 box touches, while England managed only one such effort (excluding a penalty).