Euro 2024: Jude Bellingham quotes Roosevelt after England’s victory

Jude Bellingham quoted former US President Theodore Roosevelt in response to his critics after scoring a crucial equaliser six minutes into injury time during England’s Euro 2024 last-16 win over Slovakia.

Bellingham, who celebrated his 21st birthday on Saturday, saved England from defeat with a scissor-kick with seconds left in Sunday’s match in Gelsenkirchen.

The Real Madrid midfielder turned and shouted ‘Who else is there?’ as he celebrated his goal, which sent the match into extra time. England captain Harry Kane headed in the winning goal to give the team a 2-1 victory and a place in the quarter-finals against Switzerland on Saturday.

After a string of poor performances in Germany, Bellingham was under pressure to live up to his reputation as one of the brightest young talents in Gareth Southgate’s side.

Following his goal contribution, Bellingham posted an excerpt from ‘The Man In the Arena’, part of a speech made famous by Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States, after it was delivered in Paris in 1910.

Bellingham posted on Instagram: “It’s not the critic that counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.

‘The honor belongs to the man who actually stands in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who fights valiantly; who makes mistakes, who comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without mistakes and shortcomings.

‘But who really strives to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasm, great devotion; who devotes himself to a good cause.

“Who at the best knows in the end the triumph of a great achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring much, so that his place will never be with those cold and fearful souls who seek neither victory nor know defeat.”

Bellingham said in his post-match interview that playing for England is “difficult” and spoke of a “piling on” of criticism.

“Playing for England is a great feeling, but it also comes with a lot of pressure,” he said.

“You hear people talking a lot of nonsense. It’s nice if you can offer them something and give them a little back.

“It’s very difficult to talk as openly as footballers want to during press conferences and interviews because they are always being judged. For me, football, being on the pitch, scoring goals and celebrating, is my outlet.

“People talk a lot. You have to take it a bit personally. We are working so hard on this match.

“We come every day, we work hard to put on a show for the fans, sometimes things don’t go well and sometimes it feels like there’s a bit of a build-up, which is not nice to hear.

“But you can always use it and for such moments it is nice to give it back to some people.”

England manager Southgate will have to make at least one change to his team against Switzerland after defender Marc Guéhi was shown a yellow card against Slovakia, leading to a one-match suspension for the quarter-finals.