Jude Bellingham fired a robust response to England’s critics after the Real Madrid star saved his team from a Euros tragedy.
Bellingham scored a breathtaking overhead kick in stoppage time before Harry Kane notched the winner in extra time ahead of jubilant scenes at full-time.
England have been heavily criticised for their performances here in Germany, and Bellingham took pleasure in hitting back to his team’s detractors after Sunday night’s euphoric victory.
‘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. It’s a feeling I don’t like to have but when it’s done, it feels great.
Jude Bellingham fired a robust response to England’s critics after victory against Slovakia
The Three Lions avoided an exit from Euro 2024 thanks to goals by Bellingham and Harry Kane
‘It’s a habit I’ve picked up from Madrid. Obviously my game has improved a lot since I’ve joined and I’m grateful I could bring it to this game.’
When asked what he meant by ‘rubbish’, Bellingham added: ‘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 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.’
Bellingham appeared to yell ‘who else, who else?’ As he celebrated his late equaliser.
‘The adrenaline gets you. It’s a combination of a lot of things,’ Bellingham added.
‘Playing for England is an enjoyable feeling but it’s also a lot of pressure.
Bellingham scored an overhead kick in stoppage time to take the game to extra-time
The midfielder appeared to yell ‘who else, who else?’ as he celebrated his late equaliser
‘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.’
Bellingham believes England’s dramatic victory can inspire the team to win the tournament, adding: ‘Besides their goal I thought we were pretty good to be honest, we had a lot of control, we got in good areas. We were dangerous.
‘We still had one or two moments where we could have been more clinical but in general I thought it was a good performance from us.
‘The main thing is we showed character. You don’t experience things like that if you don’t have the adversity of the two draws, of going 1-0 down. It’s brilliant because it shows a reaction.’
Match winner Kane said: ‘That’s the desire and attitude from the boys and staff and everyone involved.
‘It looked tough for a second there but we kept going. We’ve worked on so many details, we put a long throw in a couple of days ago and we said we might need it.
‘Then Jude does what Jude does, it was an unbelievable goal and it kept our tournament alive.
‘I think it’s one of the best (goals) in our country’s history. What a player he is. He works so hard for the team.
Kane believes Bellingham’s breaktaking goal is ‘one of’ England’s best goals ever
‘There’s been a lot of talk about him in the last couple of days and it shows what he can do in the big moments, to step up and that’s what we needed everyone to do, to step up.
‘We know we’ll do whatever it takes. If it’s another game like this in the quarter-finals, so be it. This team knows how to dig deep and we’ve done that today. Of course we could have done better but ultimately it’s a results business.
‘We’ll enjoy the comeback and hopefully take the momentum into the rest of the tournament.’
Declan Rice was involved in spat with Alessandro Bulfoni, a member of Slovakia’s backroom team, after the final whistle.
But head coach Francesco Calzona said: ‘Rice was supposed to go to the referees and leave. I had to speak to the refs and he wasn’t leaving, he carried on.
‘But then he apologised and it was all fine.’