David Beckham may have equalled Bobby Moore's record of 108 caps for his country, but on this performance the current England team have a long way to go before he can dream of matching the legend's feat of lifting the World Cup.

Beckham's personal achievement was the only positive on a night where England were given a huge reality check after 12 months of impressive development under Fabio Capello during 2008.

To be fair to the squad, none of them had been getting carried away by the superb victories over Croatia and Germany. However, there had been a growing belief that England could not only qualify for the World Cup in 2010 having won their opening four group games, but be major contenders to win it.

Yet Spain, who are still playing with all the verve and confidence that helped them triumph at Euro 2008 last summer, gave them a lesson in what it really takes to succeed at the highest level.

England could point to some of the key individuals that were missing, like Steven Gerrard, Wayne Rooney and Joe Cole, as a reason for being under par, while Rio Ferdinand was a late casualty through illness, but in truth they were simply outclassed.

Capello has helped create a great team spirit among the squad and it has borne fruit with a great work ethic on the pitch. The problem is Spain can match anyone for effort and at the same time eclipse the opposition when it comes to pure skill and free flowing football.

No two players better sum up the irresistible Spanish style than the midfield duo Xavi and Andres Iniesta.

At times it looked like they were taking on the England team all on their own due to the way they constantly exchanged passes and left the enforcers Capello had employed to protect the back four, Gareth Barry and Michael Carrick, constantly in their wake.

Striker David Villa seemed to benefit most from the duo's invention and was fed a number of balls in and around the edge of England's penalty area.

A few desperate late interventions and a close offside decision saved Capello's men in the opening half hour, only for Villa to finally end his frustration with a fine finish in the 36th minute.

The sight of centre backs John Terry and Phil Jagielka falling to the floor after being outwitted by the Valencia striker gave support to the impression that Spain had already landed a knock-out blow.

England had enjoyed periods of possession at the start of the game and came close when Gabriel Agbonlahor volleyed just wide of the post. The majority of their attacks though were laboured and fruitless in comparison to the home side.

While the Spanish took things a bit easier after the break and also gave England some respite by substituting Villa and Fernando Torres, they remained a class apart.

Carlton Cole still had the chance to make an impact on his debut only to see one shot balloon high over the bar and another cleared off the line by Carlos Marchena.

In the end it was left to Fernando Llorente to head in Spain's second eight minutes from the final whistle to make the scoreline a fairer reflection of how the game went.

Still, there was no sign of a downbeat atmosphere as the England players emerged from the dressing room afterwards, just an appreciation of how much work there is still to do.

They have seven weeks until their next World Cup qualifier, at home to Ukraine, and although a defeat is never welcomed, the experience of playing one of the best sides in the world won't go to waste.

Terry said: "They are the target for where we want to be in one or two years time and maybe it's a good early lesson for us. A player like Xavi is world class and that is why they're European champions.

"I think for 15-20 minutes we got in their faces and stuck to the game-plan. But after that we dropped off a little bit too much and gave them too much time and space to play. When you do that they will always open you up with the quality they possess.

"Hopefully, this is a kick up the backside for us and we will go into the qualifiers having learnt a lot from this game and pick up maximum points."

Such is Capello's vast experience as a coach at the very highest level, one assumes there is nothing new for him to learn, but he says he earned valuable insight from the trip to the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan stadium.

He said: "We now understand a lot of things about my team and about the opponents. I learnt a lot of things for the next game we have to play for World Cup qualification.

"I'm not happy because we lost, but I understand a lot for the future."