Wayne Rooney will be watching from the sidelines when England line up against Spain at Wembley tonight, a decision interim manager Gareth Southgate would have made regardless of fitness.

Rooney sat out training yesterday with a minor injury, alongside left-back Ryan Bertrand, but Southgate had already made up his mind to start without his most decorated player.

After confirming the Manchester United star would be assessed by medical staff prior to the game, Southgate said: “I wouldn’t start Wayne in this game anyway, so we’ll decide which route to go.

“At times too much of that responsibility has laid with Wayne and we need to share that. There are leaders already and other potential leaders who I think can step forward.

“And once you have a team full of those players then we’ll have a lot of success.”

Jordan Henderson will captain the side in Rooney’s absence.