England were 86 seconds away from an embarrassing Euro 2024 exit until Jude Bellingham’s stunner inspired a 2-1 extra-time win over Slovakia in the last 16.
Bellingham, only 21 on Saturday, showed his talismanic quality yet again to haul England level with their first shot on target in the 95th minute.
His superb bicycle kick from a long throw-in beat Martin Dubravka to cancel out Ivan Schranz’s first-half opener and send the tie to extra-time.
Harry Kane then stepped up 50 seconds into the additional 30 minutes to nod home Ivan Toney’s flick and give England a victory which sets up a quarter-final with Switzerland next Saturday – kick-off 5pm – which had looked almost impossible only moments earlier.
But it could have been so different.
The pressure had been building ever since Schranz fired Slovakia into a first-half lead with his third goal of the tournament. The Slavia Prague winger was allowed to stride forward from midfield past Marc Guehi to meet David Strelec’s ball into the box before beating Jordan Pickford one-on-one.
Kane was guilty of wasting a rare clear-cut opportunity when he nodded Foden’s free-kick past the near post, while Declan Rice was unfortunate to hit only the base of the post with an excellent 25-yard drive.
Instead it was left to Bellingham to pick up the pieces with seconds remaining, before Kane showed his own captain’s quality in extra-time to give England – and Southgate – a stay of reprieve for another six days.
