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Thomas Tuchel leaves Jarrad Branthwaite out of England squad for Spain decider as Dan Burn and James Hill leapfrog Everton defender

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Branthwaite, Garner and King miss out for Spain

England travelled to Spain with 26 players, but UEFA rules allow only 23 in a matchday squad for Nations League games, which forced Tuchel to trim his group. The return of Konsa and Spence, who both missed Thursday's 2-1 win over Croatia at Wembley, has increased competition for places in defence.

According to the Daily Mail, Burn and Hill, who were not in the original squad but were added last week, have now jumped above Branthwaite in the pecking order. Branthwaite has made two substitute appearances under Tuchel, totalling 28 minutes.

Tuchel explains his doubts over Branthwaite

There was a clue to Tuchel's doubts before the Croatia game, when he questioned Branthwaite's suitability to England's way of playing. "Jarrad Branthwaite is doing very well but it's a very different style of play for him from Everton towards us," said the head coach.

Tuchel then picked Burn ahead of him against Croatia and explained: "You can see that Dan Burn is straight away a big voice in training and is more used to the style with Newcastle from the last two seasons with Eddie Howe, where they followed in a high press and man-to-man."

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Garner denied chance to build on Croatia cameo

Garner replaced Declan Rice in the 77th minute against Croatia and thought he had scored his first England goal, only for VAR to rule it out for offside. He now misses the chance to build on that cameo against the world champions.

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King received his first senior call-up after an impressive start to the season with Fulham, but his wait for a debut goes on. Fellow first-time call-ups Jobe Bellingham and Hill are included, as is Ben White, who was booed when he came on against Croatia.

What's next for England in Madrid?

Konsa could come straight back into the starting XI, while James Trafford is set to replace Jordan Pickford in goal, according to BBC Sport.

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England sit three points behind Spain in Group A3 but have a superior goal difference, so a win will secure top spot and a quarter-final against a runner-up from another League A group in March.

News editor

Working as a football journalist was my first childhood dream. I became a journalist and a member of the Egyptian Journalists Syndicate, but covering topics far from the world of sports until the opportunity came in early 2020 when I joined Kooora, and then GOAL.

My memories with football began with Zinedine Zidane's historic triumph in the 1998 World Cup and France's unforgettable win over Brazil in the final, along with the Egyptian league matches and the rivalry between Al Ahly, Zamalek, and Ismaily during that era.

I don't support a specific team in Europe, but I enjoyed watching Milan with "Maldini, Gattuso, Kaka, Pirlo" and was amazed by Barcelona with "Busquets, Iniesta, Xavi, Neymar, Villa, Messi, Suarez", before following Mohamed Salah in his exceptional career with Fiorentina, Roma, and Liverpool.

My unforgettable sports moment was Mohamed Aboutrika's goal in Al Ahly's victory over Sfaxien in the 2006 CAF Champions League final.

My ideal lineup: Buffon; Cafu - Van Dijk - Maldini - Roberto Carlos; Pirlo - Zidane - Iniesta - Kaka; Cristiano Ronaldo - Messi

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