Result was all that mattered says Parker as champions prove class

Tottenham midfielder Parker was man of the match in a friendly England won 1-0 at Wembley despite their opponents dominating almost every aspect of the game bar the scoreline.

“It was a tough game and I think the stats will probably favour Spain today, but, ultimately, we’ve got the result,” Parker said. “It was very, very pleasing.”

The 31-year-old added: “We were very solid. We limited them to very few chances.

“They had a lot of possession at times, proved they have got some real, real class.

“But we defended very well and obviously we tried to hit them on the break.

“The one positive thing is we stuck together.

“It was a good team performance and when you play against Spain, you have no doubt that they’re going to have a lot of the ball.”

Parker was magnificent in front of the back four, repeatedly putting his body on the line to repel Spain’s attacks and appearing to hurt himself stretching for one vital clearance. The midfielder confirmed he suffered nothing more than cramp and was confident of being fit for tomorrow’s game against Sweden.

Parker was not England’s only hero in a victory achieved without the absent Wayne Rooney, John Terry and Steven Gerrard.

“It says a lot,” Parker said. “They’re obviously world-class players and would compliment any team.”

Yet, Parker refused to get carried away with the win and whether it meant England could repeat the result were they to meet Spain at next summer’s Euros.

He said: “Who knows? The one thing is we can’t get too carried away.

“We’ve obviously got a good result and we had a game plan and obviously we accomplished that.”

He added: “In terms of tournament, I think we need to build on this, we need to take confidence from this.”