Euro 2022 favourites Spain recovered from conceding a goal inside the opening minute to overpower Finland in their tournament opener in Milton Keynes.

It could have been 2-0 11 minutes later but Adelina Engman dragged a shot wide before Spain took control.

They dominated possession and, moments after having a goal disallowed, equalised as captain Irene Paredes headed in following a corner taken by the excellent Mariona Caldentey.

Another headed goal saw Spain take the lead with Aitana Bonmati getting on the end of Maria Pilar Leon’s delivery.

Lucia Garcia settled Spain’s nerves in the 75th minute with a third headed goal, before Caldentey converted an injury-time penalty to ensure her country made a winning start.

Spain survive scare with injured Putellas watching on

Spain are betting favourites to win the competition for the first time after a run of form that saw them go into the tournament unbeaten in 23 matches, having scored more than 100 goals and only conceded three in that time.

However, their preparations had been severely hampered by two key injuries.

Record goalscorer Jennifer Hermoso was ruled out of the squad after suffering a knee injury in June before Alexia Putellas, the reigning Ballon d’Or holder, suffered a serious anterior cruciate ligament knee injury in training on Tuesday.

Putellas, last season’s top scorer in the Champions League, was at Stadium MK on crutches and posed with her team-mates before the match started, with them holding up her shirt.

After Bonmati, one of seven Barcelona players who started the match, had put Spain ahead, she ran over to celebrate with Barca team-mate Putellas.

Spain, who go top of Group B with Denmark and Germany playing at Brentford’s Community Stadium later on Friday, saw Manchester United’s Ona Batlle denied by Korpela, who then also saved from substitute Laia Aleixandri.

But those misses did not prove costly as Garcia headed in a third to kill the game off, with Caldentey adding a penalty with the last kick of the match.

Finland start well, but overpowered

Finland’s goal, the second fastest in the tournament’s history, came after bookmakers had them at odds of nearly 50-1 to win the match, 200-1 to win the group and 500-1 to win the competition.

However, after Engman’s miss that could have made it 2-0, they saw little of the ball and had to defend deep and in numbers.

Tottenham goalkeeper Tinja-Riikka Korpela saved from Caldentey and thought she had conceded when Patri Guerrero headed in but the goal was ruled out as the ball had gone out before Esther Gonzalez crossed it.

However, it was just a brief respite as two goals in 15 minutes saw Spain take control in front of a crowd of 16,819 – the 11th highest attendance in the tournament’s history.

Korpela’s Spurs team-mate Eveliina Summanen had a rare Finland chance in the second half but could only shoot at goalkeeper Sandra Panos, before the game was put out of their reach.

Finland reached the semi-finals when the tournament was last staged in England in 2005 but will need to gain positive results in their next two matches to stay in the competition.