GELSENKIRCHEN, Germany — Jude Bellingham scored a stunning overhead kick with just seconds left to play at the European Championships on Sunday to avert England from suffering one of the most shocking defeats in history.
The midfielder scored an acrobatic shot five minutes into added time to tie the score at 1-1 against Slovakia in the last 16. Harry Kane scored again in the first minute of extra time at the Veltins Arena to seal a 2-1 comeback victory and a place in the quarter-finals. England will now face Switzerland in Duesseldorf on Saturday.
“I think we were 20 seconds away from being eliminated from the European Championships,” Bellingham said. “There’s no denying it was one of the most important moments of my career so far.”
For a long time, the defeat was seen as one of England’s most humiliating, evoking memories of their defeat to Iceland at Euro 2016, when pre-tournament favourites fell short behind a 25th-minute goal from Ivan Sranc of No. 45 Slovakia.
Frustration among fans grew during the first half, with boos ringing out across the stadium.
England needed to improve in the second half: Phil Foden had a goal ruled out by VAR, Kane’s close-range header was off target and Declan Rice’s shot hit the post in the 81st minute.
With just seconds left, Bellingham had a eureka moment.
Kyle Walker took a long throw-in from the right wing and Marc Guehi jumped to flick the ball over.
The ball was landed behind Bellingham in the middle of the box, but he recovered in an instant and delivered a perfect overhead kick that smashed into the bottom corner with Slovakia goalkeeper Martin Dubravka watching patiently from his goal line as the ball was sucked into the back of the net.
“I had this strange feeling that the game wasn’t over, which I think is absurd, because we were attacking and probing,” England manager Gareth Southgate said. “In the end it was the ball we put into the penalty area that scored the goal.”
Bellingham’s goal was England’s first of the match.
It didn’t take long for Kane to score the second goal, scoring with a header for his seventh goal in his last seven major knockout matches and his country’s record-extending 65th.
England, ranked fifth in the world, have not won a major tournament since their only World Cup triumph in 1966.
“We didn’t come here to get to the quarter-finals but it’s good to get through a night like tonight and now we go up against a very strong Swiss team,” Southgate said. “We’ve got a few days to recover and get ready to face them.”
