Fans were left jubilant after birthday boy Jude Bellingham helped England to a great escape and a place in the Euro 2024 quarter-finals.
Bellingham celebrated his 21st birthday at England’s Euro 2024 base in Blankenhain on Saturday, and just a day later produced a stoppage-time stunner to help save the side from an embarrassing last-16 exit.
The midfielder’s overhead kick five minutes into stoppage time sent the match to extra time, with captain Harry Kane’s header sealing a 2-1 victory for England against Slovakia.
Emotional rollercoaster! Let’s go @England! Quarter finals here we come! W https://t.co/4KaJkJcWAa
— The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) June 30, 2024
The Prince of Wales described the dramatic comeback win as an “emotional roller-coaster”.
After the victory William, who is president of the FA, retweeted a photograph of England’s goal heroes.
Next to the image which showed Bellingham planting a kiss on Kane’s forehead, William wrote: “Emotional rollercoaster! Let’s go @England! Quarter finals here we come!”
England now face Switzerland in the tournament.
It’s not over until it’s over. pic.twitter.com/FpZe6VMhDa
— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) June 30, 2024
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who is still on the campaign trail in the final days before Thursday’s General Election, posted online to mark England’s win.
Along with a photo of himself in a shirt and tie, standing amid a delighted crowd celebrating England’s goals, he wrote: “It’s not over until it’s over.”
People who were camped out in the overnight queue on the eve of the start of the Wimbledon championships were seen huddling together by their tents to watch the match.
Glastonbury festival-goer Luke Beresford, 38, a database administrator based in Bristol, said he was “blown away” by the two England goals.
“I was resigned to England losing, I was thinking it‘s messed up my whole weekend basically but Bellingham just showed up,” he said.
“Overhead kick, last minute, just buzzing it’s unbelievable, the dream is still alive.
“You can see how many football shirts are through the crowd.
“It’s just a shame they’re not showing it on a screen because I think it would be an amazing atmosphere.”
While speaking to PA, Kane managed to head the ball into Slovakia’s goal, bringing the score to 2-1, with Mr Beresford saying: “Wow, blown away.
“I have my daughter and son at home messaging me, they’re eight and six, watching it with my wife’s sister and they’re buzzing.”
In a message to the Three Lions, he added: “Keep going, we’re all behind you, let’s just do it.”
Fellow festival-goers Toby Calder and Charlie Brewer were watching Avril Lavigne’s set while also trying to keep an eye on the nail-biting match.
“What a game,” Mr Calder said.
“We were watching Avril Lavigne whilst trying to refresh BBC Sport to get the updates but then we managed to get a stream up as soon as we came back to watch the rest of the game, it was great.
“We were the only people with signal so we were getting asked all around what was going on.”
Actor Idris Elba also congratulated England while at Glastonbury.
Elba was speaking on the West Holts stage about knife crime while the match was still taking place.
Told afterwards that the Three Lions had won, Elba said: “I heard it’s 2-1, did we win? Hey congratulations – very good England.”
Despite being seconds away from crashing out of Euro 2024, England are now the 7-2 favourites with both Coral and Labroke bookmakers to win the whole tournament.
Coral’s John Hill said: “We still make England favourites to lift the trophy, and those late goals might just be the spark they needed.”
Alex Apati, of Ladbrokes, said: “We were seconds away from pricing up Gareth Southgate’s imminent replacement but, hey… Jude made things a whole lot better for his boss – and the whole nation – and we’re expecting the Beatles classic (song Hey Jude) to top the charts over the next few weeks.”
