Jude Bellingham has urged England fans to "keep the faith" after the Three Lions' gut-wrenching World Cup exit.
Gareth Southgate's team crashed out of the tournament at the quarter-final stage following a narrow 2-1 loss to holders France on Saturday night. 19-year-old Bellingham was the breakout star of England's ultimately disappointing campaign in Qatar, but strongly believes there are better days ahead for the Three Lions.
"This one will be painful for a very long time," the Borussia Dortmund midfielder wrote on Twitter after the squad landed back at Birmingham airport on Sunday evening. "The better team on the night went out, that's football sometimes. Regardless, I'm so proud of the effort, fight and performance from my teammates over the course of the whole tournament.
"Thank you also to the fans for the love and support these past few weeks, stick with us even in this low moment as we use this experience to continue to grow as a team for future tournaments. Keep the faith, our time will come."
England's time to win the World Cup will be at least three-and-a-half years away, with the Three Lions made to rue captain Harry Kane 's shock penalty miss late in the France defeat. The Tottenham striker stepped up to the spot in the 82nd minute, having already equalised once in the game to match Wayne Rooney 's all-time record of 53 goals in an England shirt.
But Kane will be waiting until the Euro 2024 qualifiers begin in March to have another crack at breaking the record, as he skied his shot over Hugo Lloris ' crossbar. Despite the loss, Southgate and Bellingham were pleased with their side's performance.
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"In my opinion, we were the better team on the day. I think we definitely deserved extra time," Stourbridge-born Bellingham told ITV. "Obviously, Harry was really unlucky with the penalty, he's scored tons for us in the past. Sometimes, that's how it goes in football and we've got to look ahead but take the lessons that we've learned from today and move forward."
Meanwhile, boss Southgate claimed the Three Lions' display "deserved better," adding: "I just said to the players in there I don't think they could give any more. I think they played really well against a top team and it's fine margins, things at both ends that have ended up deciding the game, but I think the way they've progressed throughout this tournament has been fantastic."
The 52-year-old went on to say: "I think just at key moments, you're playing in a high-level game where there are going to be chances created. In most of the big momentsm we were in the right place, we had more shots on goal. The goalkeeper's made a couple of really good saves for us but it's a game of fine margins."
