Jude Bellingham produced an overhead kick to keep England in the Euros as the Real Madrid man joked he thought he was Cristiano Ronaldo when he scored his equaliser against Slovakia
Jude Bellingham thought he was “like Cristiano Ronaldo” when he scored his overhead kick – but later realised he didn’t quite emulate the Portugal legend.
The England midfielder came out with a timely equaliser to spare the nation’s blushes against Slovakia in the last 16. His strike came five minutes into stoppage time before Harry Kane netted the winner in extra-time to keep their Euro dream alive.
Bellingham, who by his own standards has had an indifferent tournament, produced some acrobatics to score from a long throw and, in his head, thought he was replicating Ronaldo. The ex-Real Madrid man scored an iconic overhead kick in the Champions League against Juventus which saw him leap off the ground.
The ex-Birmingham star thought he was doing the same when he flung a leg at the ball, but after seeing the replays joked that he still had a hand on the ground.
He told the Diary Room on England’s social media channels: “It was really instinct more than anything, it kind of fell in the perfect spot, it was a little bit behind me. When I was in the air thought ‘My god, I’m like, six feet off the ground, and it’s like, (Cristiano) Ronaldo’, but I watched it back and I’ve still got one arm on the floor, so it wasn’t the most acrobatic!
“But I think it was a nice contact and when I turned around on the floor and just saw it kind of rolling in, I thought ‘Oh my God’ – it was definitely one of the most important and memorable moments of my career so far.”
Bellingham arrived in England camp off the back of Champions League success with Real, but he and several of the nation’s big hitters are yet to hit top form as the team as a whole struggle to find a successful formula with criticism coming there way.
The England midfielder appeared to suggest that the noise surrounding the group has galvanised them as the Three Lions eye a potential final with many of their rivals out of the way until the showpiece in Berlin.
He said: “In international football, knock-out football, it’s the worst feeling when you are no more than 30 seconds from going home and having to listen to all the rubbish. You feel like you’ve let a nation of people down and 30 seconds later, with one kick of the ball, everything can change.
“It’s 20 or 30 seconds until we’re out of the European Championship. It’s hard to deny that it’s one of the most important moments of my career so far. It’s still a long tournament and it is only really very important if we go on to win the cup. So we’ll decide in the next two weeks how important it is.”
Join our new WhatsApp communityand receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.
