Jude Bellingham admitted he felt like he had let his country down seconds before his acrobatic goal kept England’s Euro 2024 dreams alive.
The Real Madrid man, who turned 21 on Saturday, fired the equaliser with an overhead kick from Kyle Walker’s long throw in the dying seconds of the last-16 clash with Slovakia in Gelsenkirchen.
🤸😲#EURO2024 | #ENGSVK pic.twitter.com/SyFiluFTk4
— UEFA EURO 2024 (@EURO2024) June 30, 2024
It was England’s first shot on target after another sub-par showing in Germany from the pre-tournament favourites.
“You’re 30 seconds away from going home, feeling like you’ve let your nation down, and one kick of the ball and everything’s great,” Bellingham told uefa.com. “It’s a feeling I don’t want, but when it comes, it’s a great feeling.”
Bellingham lifted the lid on the weight of expectation on the Three Lions squad, revealing: “Playing for England is a great thing, but it’s a lot of pressure as well. Being on the pitch and scoring goals for me is a release, it’s a very happy moment.”
⚽️🏴⚽️#EURO2024 | #ENGSVK pic.twitter.com/qIRHhOxA5k
— UEFA EURO 2024 (@EURO2024) June 30, 2024
The Stourbridge-born star said his spectacular strike was among the best he’s ever scored, adding: “There’s a few nice ones, ones that mean a lot to me personally, but this one was so important, for both today and the mood change if it doesn’t happen. It’s right up there.
“It’s 20 or 30 seconds until we’re out of the European Championship and the mood now is a massive difference, and what it can do for the team going forward.
“It’s a massive moment, but it’s a long tournament and we’ll only know it if we go on to win the cup. We’ll decide in the next two weeks how important it is.”
Bellingham hailed the character of the England side and said the experience of tough times will only help them as the tournament progresses.
“Besides their goal, we were pretty good I thought, we got into good areas,” he added. “We could be more clinical, but the main thing we showed was a lot of character.
“In knockout football, when you produce a moment like that, people can look around and think ‘Yes, that is the spirit we have in the team’. You don’t have those moments without the adversity.”
