Jude Bellingham happy to ‘give a bit back’ to England’s critics

Jude Bellingham says it was “nice to give a little bit back” to the people that “talk a lot of rubbish” after his stunning injury-time goal paved the way for England to squeeze past Slovakia last night and into the quarter-finals of Euro 2024.

After 95 minutes of toil, England finally registered a shot on target as Bellingham produced a brilliant overhead kick to cancel out Ivan Schranz’s goal in Gelsenkirchen. Harry Kane won it for England with a header in the first minute of extra-time.

England’s performances in Germany have attracted plenty of criticism and, while this was not much better as the Three Lions again looked devoid of ideas tactically, Bellingham hopes advancing to a quarter-final date with Switzerland on Saturday will help quieten the noise around the team.

He said: “You hear people talk a lot of rubbish. It’s nice when you can deliver and give them a little bit back.

“For me, football, being on the pitch, scoring goals and celebrating is my release. Maybe it was a message to a few people. I was very happy at the end, lots of adrenaline.

“It’s a feeling that is like no other. In international football, in knockout football, it’s even a worse feeling, because you’re 30 seconds from going home.

“Having to listen to all the rubbish, feeling like you have let a nation of people down. In one kick of the ball, everything can change.”

Moment of magic from Jude 💫#EURO2024 | @BellinghamJude pic.twitter.com/KVL10nISHK

— UEFA EURO 2024 (@EURO2024) July 1, 2024

The Real Madrid midfielder added: “People talk a lot. You do have to take it personally a little bit. We work so hard at this game.

“We come in every day, we work hard to put on a performance for the fans, sometimes it doesn’t go well and sometimes it feels like there’s a bit of a pile on, it’s not nice to hear.

“But you can always use it and for moments like that, it’s nice to throw it back to some people.”