England midfielder Jude Bellingham said it was "about time" people began showing team-mate Jordan Henderson the respect he is due.
Liverpool star Henderson scored England's first goal as they beat Senegal 3-0 to move into the quarter-finals of the World Cup. Bellingham was the man who laid on the goal, breaking free down the left and sliding in a low cross, and the teenager also had a part to play as Harry Kane scored England's second.
Buyako Saka's second-half effort put the game out of sight, setting up a meeting with World Cup holders France in the last eight. Didier Deschamps' team were comfortable in their 3-1 victory over Poland, with Kylian Mbappe scoring twice to move clear at the top of the goalscoring charts for the tournament.
"I’ve seen some of the rubbish said about him, it’s ridiculous - he’s so underrated technically," Bellingham said of his fellow midfielder after the game. "It’s about time he gets a bit of praise.”
Henderson's goal was his just his third for England, but his second in a major tournament. He was also on target in the quarter-finals of Euro 2020 as Southgate's team put four unanswered goals past Ukraine.
The link-up play between Bellingham and Henderson also got Liverpool fans excited. The Borussia Dortmund youngster has been linked with a move to Anfield in the past, and there are plenty who would be happy to see the duo's England relationship replicated at club level.
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Bellingham isn't the only one to have been impressed by Henderson, who many felt was vying with Mason Mount for a starting spot against Senegal. Adam Lallana, who played for England at the 2014 World Cup, also pointed out what the 32-year-old can offer.
"I outlined earlier in the tournament about what Mount brings to a team, but the way the midfield three of Henderson, Jude Bellingham and Declan Rice complemented each other in the victory over Wales was eye-catching," Henderson's former Liverpool team-mate Lallana wrote in The Times before England's victory.
"It screamed solidity and intensity. There was a horribleness about England, a ruggedness, that made them difficult to play against. They were always at Wales; harrying and annoying whoever was on the ball.
"You could see some similarities with how Liverpool were when Jurgen Klopp first came to the club and it is no surprise that should be the case given the inclusion of Henderson in the starting XI.
"That style is all he has known for the last seven years, it is an approach that has brought such success in his career, and so, of course, he is going to transfer elements of that football when he pulls on an England shirt."
