Jude Bellingham hits back at England critics for ‘rubbish’ thrown at players

Jude Bellingham hit back at England’s critics by claiming he had thrown some of “the rubbish” back at them with his stunning overhead kick that kept his side in the European Championship.

England were just over a minute from being knocked out by Slovakia without having a shot on target until Bellingham struck deep into time added on for stoppages.

Bellingham screamed “who else?” in celebration of his equaliser before Harry Kane scored the extra-time winner that clinched a quarter-final tie against Switzerland in Dusseldorf on Saturday.

After the match, Bellingham denied making a crude gesture towards the Slovakian bench after his goal, which appeared to relate to the size of his testicles.

Bellingham explained on social media that it was: “An inside joke gesture towards some close friends who were at the game. Nothing but respect for how that Slovakia team played tonight.”

Defeat in Gelsenkirchen would have almost certainly been manager Gareth Southgate’s final act and Bellingham acknowledged that he and his team-mates would have felt like they had let the nation down.

Bellingham referenced “the rubbish” that England players face on a number of occasions in his post-match interview. Asked to explain exactly what he meant, the 21-year-old said: “You know what I mean by the rubbish. Playing for England should be the most proud moment of your career, but often it’s quite difficult.

“There’s a really high intense pressure. The fans expect a lot from us regardless of what happened in recent tournaments years and years ago. 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.”

Explaining why he shouted “who else?” in celebration, Bellingham said: “The adrenaline gets you. It’s a combination of a lot of things. Playing for England is an enjoyable feeling, but it’s also a lot of pressure. You hear people talk a lot of rubbish. It’s nice when you can deliver and give them a little bit back.

“It’s very difficult when you talk in press conferences and interviews, to talk as openly as footballers want to, because they’re always judged. 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.”

Bellingham was more upbeat when describing his goal, which he rated as the best of his career. But he said it would only have been the most important if England went all the way.

Asked if it was his best goal, Bellingham replied: “Probably. It’s got to be, hasn’t it. It’s got to be up there.There’s a few nice ones, ones that mean a lot to me personally, my first ones for Birmingham, [Borussia] Dortmund and [Real] Madrid. It’s one that is right up there. It’s so important in terms of today. The mood changes if it doesn’t happen.”

But when it was put to Bellingham that it must have also been the best moment, he said: “It’s got to be up there again, 20-30 seconds until we’re out of the European Championship, the mood in comparison to now that it would have been is a massive difference and what it can do for the team going forward.

“It’s hard to deny it was one of the most important moments of my career so far. We’ll see, though. It’s still a long tournament and it’s only really very important if we go on to win the cup. We’ll decide in the next two weeks how important it is.”

Kane hailed Bellingham’s overhead kick by saying: “That’s right up there. To score that type of goal in that moment to keep our dreams alive is one of the best. What a player. Credit to him for being ready in that moment. It wasn’t easy. To score that type of goal in that moment just shows the type of person he is.”

Southgate revealed that he had considered taking off Bellingham and Kane with 15 minutes to go, but knew they could be match-winners.

“With 15 minutes to go, you wonder if he [Bellingham] is out on his feet,” Southgate said. “Him and Harry Kane produce those moments and that is why you don’t make changes when people are clamouring for more changes. We had enough attacking players on the pitch.”

Southgate used the spirit of England’s 1966 World Cup success in the build-up to the Euros and believes that influenced the late fightback and the impact of his substitutes, such as Ivan Toney who headed the ball on for Kane to score the winner.

“I knew Ivan Toney had the hump with me for putting him on, but I said to him this could be the moment,” Southgate said. “We showed the players a presentation about 1966 and how Geoff Hurst hadn’t played until the quarter-final and the difficult route the team had and the players who came into the team had been ready and trained well and played important roles.”

Referring back to Toney’s reaction to being sent on so late, Southgate added: “I could just tell from his face, and I could understand it, I am putting him on with a minute to go, any player could think ‘I have been sat for the tournament and you have not used me’.

“But I said there could be one moment and I think his presence will have unsettled them a bit and he had a very clever bit of play for the second goal. I think he has just about forgiven me now.

“In terms of ’66, we just wanted to highlight that tournaments take you in strange places and difficult routes, so it was just a bit of perspective. Some of the players you think will be in like Jimmy Greaves play a different role and the support of players like Jimmy Armfield. This was back at St George’s but we are always referring to these moments, that is what creates a tournament-winning team. We have a long way to go. Everyone will understandably be still questioning our performances and we have to be better, but I am so proud of the way the players have stuck together and the leadership they have shown. That is hugely important for us.”

Marc Guehi will miss England’s last-eight game after picking up his second yellow card of the tournament.

Declan Rice was involved in an altercation at the end of extra time, when he appeared to shout expletives at a member of the Slovakia coaching staff, Alessandro Bulfoni.

Slovakia coach Francesco Calzona said: “Rice was supposed to go to the referees and say goodbye and leave. I had to speak to the referees and he was carrying on and continuing to speak. Then he apologised and it all ended there.”

Bellingham’s iconic goal shows he is irreplaceable when it counts

“Who else?” Jude Bellingham bellowed those two words as he stood arms outstretched, in his trademark celebration, as England rescued themselves. As he rescued them with just seconds to go. Jude the Redeemer.

Otherwise, England were out of this European Championship. Otherwise, it was 99 games as manager and over for Gareth Southgate. Otherwise, England would have suffered one of the greatest humiliations in their 152-year history.

Who else. It was another iconic moment for this extraordinary young man, who turned 21 only on Saturday, and whose legend grows. To his list of achievements can now be added scoring one of England’s greatest goals in tournament football, and one of the most dramatic.

Where does it sit in the pantheon? It was as arresting as David Platt’s, in the final minute of extra time against Belgium at Italia 90, and it was an even finer and more difficult strike to execute.

It will be up there with others: with Bobby Charlton against Mexico in 1966, with Paul Gascoigne against Scotland at Euro 96, Michael Owen versus Argentina in the 1998 World Cup.

But, in context, it was arguably greater than all of those. Platt won the game for England. Bellingham saved the game for them, saved Southgate and saved himself from “listening to all the rubbish”, as he put it, that would have followed elimination against Slovakia.

The goal itself was brilliant as Bellingham anticipated the flick-on, from a throw-in, by Marc Guehi and pulled away towards the penalty spot to create space. From 10 yards out he twisted his body to execute a perfect overhead kick through a thicket of defenders – and with the hugely impressive Ivan Toney blocking one of them off – and then had the presence of mind to watch the ball all the way as it bounced into the net.

It was in the fifth minute of six minutes of added time and it was probably the last chance, just as it looked, as in Euro 2016 against Iceland, that England had frozen; they had lost their way and they were going to lose in circumstances that would resonate for years and tarnish Southgate’s legacy as well as end his eight-year tenure as manager.

Instead, Bellingham was celebrating, quickly joined by Harry Kane, who also adopted the same outstretched pose. By then, Bellingham had bellowed his defiance – “who else?” – and attributed it to adrenaline but also the knowledge that if England had not scored, there would have been a “bit of a pile-on”.

And, so, that is what the best players do. In 2016, England could have played all night and would not have scored. Wayne Rooney later admitted that even early in the game they were thinking about the headlines if they lost and so fretted away their involvement in the tournament. Instead of standing tall, they shrank.

Bellingham was also thinking about the headlines – or probably even more the criticism being prepared by former players on their podcasts – and turned it all on its head. Just like he went upside down to score that goal. “It was maybe a message to a few people,” he said. Maybe it sounded chippy. Actually, it sounded defiant. Confident. He walked the walked and then talked the talk. He gave a bit back. And why not?

And please remember he is still a very young man who has so much pressure and expectation on him, even if he does have to rein in some of his responses, such as his gesture towards the Slovakian bench after scoring.

Late goals are no coincidence. In the post-match press conference, after collecting his man-of-the-match award, the first question Bellingham faced was from a Spanish journalist who reminded him he had made something of a habit of scoring them during his stunning first season at Real Madrid.

After all, he has done it twice against Barcelona to win El Clasicos – in the 92nd and 91st minutes - and games in Spain do not come bigger than that. “It’s a habit that I bring from Madrid,” Bellingham said, smiling.

In total, he has scored six goals in second-half stoppage time, four for Madrid and two for England, with all six proving crucial in either putting his team in front or equalising. That is what the best do. They are decisive.

Except, Bellingham was not man of the match. Before he scored, he had been a study in frustration, in petulance even. He was struggling to impose himself on a game that was passing him and England by and in a campaign that was collapsing around them. His most telling moment? An early booking in the first half, for a tackle, after which he almost placed his hands on the Turkish referee Umut Meler. The official was poor and erratic but it could have been costly for Bellingham.

Neither was his body language good. He had thrown his arms in the air as passes went astray and England struggled to gain any cohesion. But he was not alone in that, while social media was buzzing with calls for him to be substituted.

Bellingham had turned to the England fans demanding more noise, demanding they got more behind a team who were toiling so badly. Gareth Southgate later admitted that he could have taken Bellingham off 15 minutes from the end because – as against Slovenia – he looked “out on his feet”. He resisted that and reaped the reward because he knew what Bellingham was capable of. And, boy, did the boy deliver. Who else, after all?