It was a long time coming, but James Maddison finally made his first England start.
The Leicester City playmaker made an England bench for the first time in 2018, and made his debut the following year in a 7-0 victory over Montenegro. More than three years passed before cap number two rolled around, though, with Maddison finally featuring from the get-go in the 2-0 win at home to Ukraine.
A pre-World Cup injury came at the worst possible time for the former Coventry and Norwich man, who had been in fine form in the lead-up to the tournament. He didn't make it onto the pitch in Qatar, so there was an element of making up for lost time for the 26-year-old, but it was also a reminder of just how tough it is for a player to establish himself in England colours.
Less than 10 minutes were on the clock when England were awarded a free-kick deep on the right and Maddison took charge. Any suggestions the full debutant would hide away appeared wide of the mark.
While Phil Foden's appendicitis and injuries to Mason Mount and Marcus Rashford made the decision to pick Maddison an easier one, the Leicester man wanted to give Southgate food for thought. A spot out on the left isn't his usual position at club level, but he was still able to threaten cutting inside from that position.
It was from set pieces where his presence was really noticeable, though. Moments before Harry Kane delivered England's opener, a quickly-taken Maddison free-kick presented the captain with a chance which he really ought to have put on target, offside flag or not.
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"He obviously missed a period when he came back from the World Cup," England manager Gareth Southgate said after adding the Leicester man to his latest squad. "That was a little bit of a surprise because we felt he was in a good place when he left us.
“We have been working closely with Leicester’s medical team over the last few weeks, our medics, and we’ve got a clear picture of what his training schedule is. He is one who isn’t able to train as regularly as you’d like but in the games he has been in he has had a good impact so we still wanted the opportunity to pick him. But, we know we have got to manage him carefully.”
That may well have been a hint to the fact that Maddison wouldn't be involved at all against Italy. Southgate has often been eager to take things slowly to those outside his core group of players, though, and it shouldn't necessarily be read as a judgement on a player's quality.
Jack Grealish had played some of the best football of his career towards the end of his time at Aston Villa, but former Villa defender Southgate didn't respond by turning everything upside down to accommodate the star. Grealish, now at Manchester City, has grown into an important member of the squad, though, and Maddison will hope to do the same.
Of course, as is often the case in an England squad, another member of Southgate's team upstaged the full debutant. Bukayo Saka broke into the set-up as a teenager and has continued to thrive despite a crucial penalty miss at the last Euros, and scored a stunner to put England 2-0 up.
That's the kind of quality England have in their forward line, but there's plenty of quality in the centre as well. Jude Bellingham was the most advanced of the three in the middle, and the Dortmund man's breaks forward and skill on the ball reminded Maddison of the kind of player he's rubbing shoulders with.
Bellingham was brought down almost at will by Ukrainian defenders, who had no answer to the teenager, and a fantastic piece of footwork early in the second half saw him break free from several opponents at once. With the greatest of respects to Leicester, producing magic in elite company in England colours is a challenge of its own.
The task for England was a simple one: pick up three points and move one step closer to Euro 2024 qualification. Maddison played his part in that, but when he made way for Grealish with five minutes to go he may have rued not being able to contribute more.
It was by no means a poor performance from Maddison, who didn't look noticeably out of place. The standards are just so high when it comes to England squads, though, and he'll hope he did enough to remain in the picture for the games against Malta and North Macedonia in June.
