European press said Bellingham was the only bright spot of the England team in the victory over Serbia.
England just had their first win at EURO 2024 after beating Serbia 1-0. Despite getting 3 points, coach Gareth Southgate and his team disappointed many people with their recent performance. German newspaper Bild called Bellingham “the only star” of the England team.
Former Arsenal defender Per Mertesacker described it as one of England’s worst performances in recent times, while football commentator Chris Kramer simply said “England are missing a lot”. Both agree that England need to improve a lot if they are to win EURO 2024.
Spanish newspaper Marca also praised the Real Madrid midfielder with an article titled “Bellingham and the rest”. The article commented: “Bellingham knows how to make a difference. His position was very smart when playing behind Harry Kane. The England captain made a good bait for his junior to head in to open the scoring. It was a rare bright spot for the ‘Three Lions’ in this match. They were made difficult by Serbia for the rest of the match”.
John Stones was the player who received the lowest score in the match from L’Equipe, with only 3/10. The newspaper explained that although Serbia defended fiercely, Stones still struggled to contain Vlahovic and had unsafe handling of the ball. However, the newspaper also emphasized that the centre-back, who is currently on the payroll of Man City, had just recovered from illness not long ago.
Harry Kane was only given 5/10 by L’Equipe (5 is average, L’Equipe is known for being strict in scoring) with the comment that the England captain was almost “disappeared” throughout the match due to being closely marked, but when he had the ball or had a chance to shoot, he created significant danger for Serbia.