Jude Bellingham scored a stunning bicycle kick in the 89th minute to help England draw level in their round of 16 clash at Euro 2024, setting up a comeback win against Slovenia. The midfielder admitted in an interview that the moment he scored reminded him of Cristiano Ronaldo.
England were trailing in the dying moments of the game, but Bellingham’s goal in the 95th minute brought the Three Lions back from the brink. England captain Harry Kane scored the winning goal in the first minute of extra time, but he later described Bellingham’s bicycle kick as one of the best goals ever scored for England. Bellingham admitted that he compared himself to Ronaldo, who scored a iconic bicycle kick in the 2018 Champions League final for Real Madrid, when he was in the air.
Speaking exclusively to ‘The Interview Room’, Bellingham said: “It was purely instinctive. The ball fell into a perfect position, slightly behind me. When I was in the air, I was thinking ‘I’m six feet off the ground, just like Ronaldo!’. But I looked back at the footage and I had one hand on the ground so it wasn’t the most graceful of actions but it went in beautifully. It’s definitely one of the most important and memorable moments of my career so far.”
England’s performance before Bellingham’s goal was reminiscent of their humiliating elimination by Iceland at Euro 2016, and the goal was actually the Three Lions’ first shot on target in the game. Bellingham reflected on the narrow escape, but praised the team’s fighting spirit for pulling through.
Bellingham said: “It was a real rollercoaster of emotions, probably not the most enjoyable way to win a game. You want to dominate easily, but you have to find ways to win, even if that means having to pull off a bicycle kick in the 95th minute. The turnaround in emotion was massive – I felt deflated a minute before that, I saw the Slovenia bench preparing to celebrate, I was a little dejected and disappointed. That’s not the result I wanted, but then, all of a sudden, everything changed. People started to believe we could create another chance, and luckily, we did.”
This article is from a user submission and does not represent the views of Soccer News Pick. If you repost it, please indicate the source: https://www.soccernewspick.com/uefa-european-championship/5244.html
