'He always delivers the goods': Jude Bellingham hailed as 'difference-maker' by England team-mates

Jude Bellingham's team-mates hailed England's "difference maker" as his goal earned Gareth Southgate's side a cagey 1-0 win over Serbia in their Euro 2024 opener last night.

Bellingham headed home Bukayo Saka's deflected cross in the 13th minute to cap an outstanding, all-action first half from the Real Madrid midfielder here.

"I don't need to talk about how good he is, you see it at Madrid every week and again last night he's the match-winner," said Declan Rice, who lined up next to Trent Alexander-Arnold in a new midfield pairing behind Bellingham.

"When I'm holding, I've just got to let him flourish and do his thing, make him feel he's got the confidence to go out there and do whatever he wants. The more we play together, the more connection we've got. It's really good. And [the same] with Trent, who I thought played really well, his first time properly playing a central defensive midfield role. It's a really good trio. Jude's just on another level, isn't he? It's all I can say."

Bellingham, 20, burst into the box to meet Saka's deflected cross after the Arsenal winger was set free by Kyle Walker's pass in a slick England move.

"Every question that seems to be asked of him, he always delivers the goods," said Jarrod Bowen, who replaced Saka in the second half. "With the ball, [he showed] calmness and maturity, off the ball he won it back so many times.

“He was in the right place at the right time and took the header really well. I felt sorry for their full-back, because [Jude] was coming in full steam and the full-back's got no chance with him coming in at that pace.

"It's the anticipation, being in the right place at the right time. He's the difference maker. To have him on your team is never a bad thing."

England faded after the interval and allowed Serbia back into the game, with Jordan Pickford forced into a smart one-handed save to deny Dusan Vlahovic.

Captain Harry Kane then nearly doubled England's lead when his header from a Bowen cross was parried onto the bar by Serbia goalkeeper Predrag Rajkovic.

The result leaves England in control of Group C after Denmark and Slovenia drew 1-1 earlier in the day, with a meeting against the Danes in Frankfurt to come on Thursday.

Southgate conceded his side "ran out of energy" in the second half, but believes England will grow into the tournament after a disrupted period of preparation.

"This team is still coming together, everyone expects us to just waltz through, but there's a lot of hard work ahead," the manager said.

"We're finding best possible solutions, we had a very complicated run in to this, but the spirit of the group was there for everyone to see and we'll grow from there."

Southgate was pleased with Alexander-Arnold's performance in midfield, although England gained more of a foothold after Conor Gallagher replaced the Liverpool man for the final 20 minutes.

"Jude has such a prominent role, but he goes forward lot and Trent had to cover a lot of spaces, which is not a role he's done very often at all," Southgate said. "But I thought he showed great discipline, some moments of the fabulous passing range that he has, the shot on goal as well.

"We're obviously learning with him in this role, but he showed attributes that he can bring. But whatever we do, we're going to be playing young or inexperienced players, so it was great to see him come through that test."

Meanwhile, German police confirmed that seven Serbian nationals were arrested after an alleged clash with England fans in central Gelsenkirchen before the match.

Police said that supporters were involved in a skirmish outside a steak restaurant, although no English nationals were detained.