England boss Gareth Southgate has admitted he almost hauled Jude Bellingham off before the Real Madrid attacker popped up with a last-minute equaliser against Slovakia at Euro 2024. Bellingham produced a moment of magic in the fifth minute of stoppage time at the end of the 90 minutes to force the game into extra time.
Harry Kane then won the match for England with a header in the first minute of the extra period, with Slovakia unable to respond.
And the result means England will now face a showdown with Switzerland in the quarter-finals on Saturday in Dusseldorf.
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“We were thinking should we take him off, but you know he is capable of those sorts of moments,” Southgate told BBC Sport as he spoke about Bellingham.
“We know in the game itself we needed to be better with the ball. We couldn’t find the right solutions in the first half and we did it better in the second.
“Under that pressure they kept probing. In the end it is the old-fashioned long throw that gets the goal, those moments can happen when you keep wearing a team down.”
And in a separate interview with BBC Radio 5 Live, Southgate added: “I had a funny feeling the game wasn't dead and I know that sounds ridiculous.
"We were pushing and probing. Ultimately it is the one we have thrown in the box that got us the goal.
“With 15 minutes to go you wonder if he (Bellingham) is out on his feet. Him and Harry Kane produce those moments and that is why you don't makes changes when people are clamouring for more changes. We had enough attacking players on the pitch.”
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Bellingham, who scored England’s first goal of the tournament against Serbia, has now bagged five goals for his country since making his international debut in November 2020.
And his England team-mate Declan Rice also paid tribute to his strike against Slovakia, with the Arsenal star exclaiming: “It is crazy because if that was me, that was going over the bar.
“It was a big moment for 21 years old - that takes a lot of guts. People don’t understand what you have to go through to get over the line. We are not playing against invisible men. They are top footballers, they kept going after us. It is about waiting for those moments - as the game got stretched we created more.
“The fans tonight, I cannot speak highly enough of them. So grateful they are all here to experience that.”
