Harry Kane hailed Jude Bellingham’s equaliser 85 seconds from full-time as one of the best in England history.
The England skipper nodded the winner 53 seconds into extra time but were it not for the newly 21-year-old’s acrobatic volley from Kyle Walker’s long-throw deep into stoppage-time then they would have been facing up to one of the nation’s most humbling defeats rather than celebrating progress to the quarter-finals.
🏴 England complete the comeback#EURO2024 | #ENGSVK pic.twitter.com/sNwXKrO0vI
— UEFA EURO 2024 (@EURO2024) June 30, 2024
“That’s the desire and attitude of the boys and the staff,” Kane told ITV Sport. “It looked tough for a second, but you keep going.
“We put in a long throw a couple of days ago and said we might need it, be prepared for anything, and Jude does what he does – an unbelievable goal and it’s kept our tournament alive.
“We had incredible support, I know the fans back home would have enjoyed that. What a win.”
Bellingham might have shone for Real Madrid as they won La Liga and the Champions League this season, but he has fallen short of those high standards in England’s opening four games of the tournament in Germany.
Kane defended his teammate, saying: “It’s one of the best goals in our country’s history I reckon.
“What a player. He works so hard for the team. There’s been a lot of talk about him in the last couple of days but he shows what he can do – in the big moment he stepped up.
“That’s what we need, everyone to step up in big moments.”
Kane was sacrificed in extra-time for more defensive cover, with Ivan Toney impressing off the bench, while Cole Palmer and Eberechi Eze also caught the eye after coming on.
“We had a lot of attacking players on the pitch and had to find a way to balance the team,” Kane said. “The subs who came on did brilliantly. In this competition you have to find a way to win and that’s what we did today.”
England fans might have been put through the ringer in Gelsenkirchen on Sunday evening, but Kane would do it all over again against Switzerland in the last eight on Saturday (5pm BST) if necessary.
“We will do whatever it takes,” he said. “If we have another game like this in the quarter-final then so be it. This team knows how to dig deep. That’s exactly what we have done today.
“Of course we could have played better but ultimately it’s a results business and that’s all we care about.
“We can enjoy the comeback and hopefully take that momentum into the rest of the tournament.”
