Jude Bellingham not only scored the goal to help England defeat Serbia 1-0 on the opening day of EURO 2024 but also entered football history.
As of the match against Serbia, Bellingham played when he was 20 years and 353 days old. This helped Bellingham set a record that no European player had ever achieved before, appearing in three major international tournaments before turning 21.
Before attending EURO 2024, the midfielder currently on Real Madrid’s payroll appeared in two other major tournaments, EURO 2020 and World Cup 2022.
Bellingham played three matches at EURO 2020 when he came off the bench. After that, he was assigned to start all 5 of the team’s matches in the 2022 World Cup.
At EURO 2024, Bellingham was started from the start by Coach Gareth Southgate and scored his first goal for the Three Lions.
At this age, Bellingham also surpassed Cristiano Ronaldo to become the youngest player in European football history, playing in 3 consecutive major tournaments. Ronaldo attended three major tournaments in a row, EURO 2004, World Cup 2006 and EURO 2008 at the age of 23 years and 123 days.
Not only did he become the youngest player to participate in three international tournaments, Bellingham also made history with his goal against Serbia.
The goal in the 13th minute on the EURO opening day helped Bellingham become the first male player playing outside England to score in both major tournaments EURO and World Cup.
Previously, in the 2024 World Cup, this midfielder was the one who scored the opening goal in England’s 6-2 victory over Iran on the opening day.
Jude Bellingham scored a header to help England win. (Photo: AFP/TTXVN)
This achievement also helped Bellingham become the 5th player after Bobby Charlton, Alan Shearer, Gary Lineker and Bryan Robson to score the opening goal for England in two different major tournaments.
The Real Madrid star’s impressive performance helped Coach Gareth Southgate gain impressive statistics. Accordingly, since leading the England Team, Southgate has always won the opening match at the World Cup or EURO.
Before winning 1-0 against Serbia, Southgate’s England team defeated Tunisia 2-1 at the 2018 World Cup, won 1-0 against Croatia at EURO 2020 and beаt Iran 6-2 at the 2022 World Cup.
Under Southgate, England became the first team to keep five consecutive clean sheets in the group stage of the EURO Finals. In this impressive achievement, Pickford was the one holding the goal for the Three Lions.
In addition to the goal that brought 3 points to the “Three Lions” and set a record, the 2003 midfielder also had a passing accuracy rate of 95.7%, touched the ball 92 times, and passed accurately into the first third of the field 24 times. opponents, won 9 disputes, 4 times won free kicks, 3 successful tackles.
With the above impressive statistics, Bellingham was voted the best player of the match at Veltins Arena by the Organizing Committee of the EURO Finals.
“I’m ready to do whatever it takes, do everything so England can win the championship,” Jude Bellingham told BBC Sport after the victory.
The star also said he “got used to getting into the penalty area, moving wide. I had that habit at Real Madrid and wаnted to show my form at EURO 2024. It was a great start.” It’s great for me personally to regain my confidence and help England win is the most important thing.”
Jude Bellingham was best in the match. (Source: UEFA)
Witnessing Bellingham’s impressive performance, GOAL newspaper also continuously praised: “Bellingham is too perfect. This player’s ability to glide was really impressive in the opening goal. The passes coming from Bellingham’s feet were also made everyone аmаzed.”
As for England, the 1-0 victory over Serbia helped them get 3 points to monopolize the top spot in Group C after the opening match, because in the remaining match Denmark only won a draw against Slovenia.
In the second match, the Three Lions will face the Danish “Lead Soldiers” on June 20. They will soon advance straight to the knockout round if they win this match./.