England manager Gareth Southgate admitted his team had to "suffer" to secure a win over Serbia in their Euro 2024 curtain-raiser on Sunday night.
Jude Bellingham ’s brilliant header saw England start their quest for European Championship glory with a hard-fought victory. Three years on from their heartbreaking Wembley final defeat to Italy, their fresh quest for glory began with a tricky Group C opener in Gelsenkirchen.
But Southgate’s side passed their first Euro 2024 assignment as England held firm on a night when Bellingham’s early header proved enough to beat Serbia 1-0. The game wasn't straightforward though, with the Three Lions forced to defend for large periods of the second half.
And following the tense victory, Southgate admitted his players had to battle hard to get their Euros campaign off to a winning start. He told BBC : "They are a strong team. We had to suffer a bit which I think is really good for us.
"I think to defend the box the way we did was really good for us. I was really pleased with a lot of the play. Second half we didn't keep it as well as I would have liked but to get the win is very important."
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Bellingham was the star of the show, with the Real Madrid star following up on his Champions League success this month by scoring a vital goal for England. Southgate added: "He writes his own script. The timing of his runs. It was a super bit of play in the build-up of his play. I think all of our forward players looked really good.
"I am confident we will score goals. Playing against a back give it is not easy to create chances and we did. I liked the fact we had to suffer without the ball because that is an area we have worked on a lot this week. We were obviously much better than last week at doing that."
Bellingham said: "Good game. I thought they are a very tough side. Very robust, strong and a big group of lads and it was important that we prepared well.
Gareth Southgate guided England to an opening Euro 2024 win (The FA via Getty Images)"The staff got it right. We prepared all week very well. We knew the roles we had to do. We try to keep to our own standards and try to do our own job. It's important that we got off to a good start. Positive inside the camp and onto the next one.
"I have got used to getting into the box, getting wide and trying to do that. I got into that habit at Madrid and I wanted to carry my form into the Euros. It's a great start for me personally to get my confidence up and to help the lads get the win is the most important thing."
The result puts them top of Group C after Denmark were held to a 1-1 draw by Slovenia ahead of the Euro 2020 semi-finalists going toe-to-toe again in Frankfurt on Thursday.
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