Bellingham thought he had let England down before he landed a super hit

Jude Bellingham admitted he felt 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, equalised in the final seconds of the round of 16 match against Slovakia in Gelsenkirchen with an overhead kick following a long throw-in from Kyle Walker.

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— UEFA EURO 2024 (@EURO2024) June 30, 2024

It was England’s first shot on goal after another below-par performance from the tournament favourites in Germany.

“With 30 seconds to go, you feel like you’ve let your nation down and then you kick the ball and everything’s great again,” Bellingham told uefa.com. “It’s a feeling I don’t want to have but when it comes, it’s a great feeling.”

Bellingham spoke about the expectations placed on the Three Lions team: “Playing for England is great but it is also a lot of pressure. Being on the pitch and scoring goals is a relief for me, it is a very happy moment.”

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— UEFA EURO 2024 (@EURO2024) June 30, 2024

The Stourbridge-born star said his spectacular strike was one of the best he has ever scored, adding: “There are some beautiful ones that mean a lot to me personally but that one was so important, both for today and for changing the mood if it doesn’t work out. It’s right up there with them.”

“There are still 20 or 30 seconds until we are out of the European Championship and the mood now makes a huge difference and can be important for the team in the future.

“It’s a huge moment, but the tournament is long and we will only know when we win the trophy. How important that is is something we will decide in the next two weeks.”

Bellingham praised the character of the English team and said the experience of tough times would only help them as the tournament progresses.

“Apart from their goal, I think we were pretty good, we got into good areas,” he added. “We could have played more deliberately, but most importantly we showed a lot of character.”

“When you create a moment like that in knockout football, people can look around and think: ‘Yeah, that’s the spirit we have in the team.’ Moments like that don’t come without adversity.”

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