There was a minute left to run on Gareth Southgate’s reign, the clock ticking down on a dismal tournament that seemed a demoralising end to the second-finest tenure of any England manager. Until an airborne Jude Bellingham intervened. Until Bellingham underlined that he has that combination of talent, technique and temperament to offer the promise of greatness. There had been reasons for Southgate to replace him: booked for a rash lunge at Lukas Haraslin, he had been unwise enough to lay his hands on the referee. He had endured a poor game.
But there was an instance of brilliance; a bicycle kick, an injury-time equaliser, a lifeline, a goal that may reshape England’s history as well as Southgate’s time in charge. “Who else?” Bellingham shouted. The evidence of the previous 94 minutes was that no one was likely to score for England. The closest they came to a first-half shot on target was when, after 10 seconds, Dennis Vavro belted the ball at Harry Kane’s head and it rebounded 30 yards to Martin Dubravka. For much of it, they were simultaneously going nowhere, going backwards and going out. But Bellingham’s European Championship has now included two glorious goals, albeit with too little in the 347 minutes that separated them.
