Jude Bellingham unveiled a brand new celebration involving Trent Alexander-Arnold after scoring the winner for England against Serbia.
Bellingham headed in from Bukayo Saka’s deflected cross in the 13th minute to give the Three Lions the lead. The Real Madrid midfielder was impressive in the first half and his supreme confidence was on show in his goal celebration.
After cupping his ear, spreading his arms wide to soak up the cheers and doing a knee slide, Bellingham was joined by Liverpool star Alexander-Arnold for a choreographed celebration. And while the BBC’s camera had cut away to focus on other things in Gelsenkirchen, the photographers snapped away to capture it.
Bellingham and Alexander-Arnold took to one knee while facing each other before holding up one hand over their faces to create a mask effect and then sharing a handshake. The celebration went down well among England fans on social media – and Bellingham later explained what it meant to the BBC.
“When we play wolf, one of the staff loves that face when he doesn’t have a clue what’s going on,” he said. “So that was kind of a little group celebration for the wolf.”
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The two England stars are good pals and their friendship previously helped spark rumours that Bellingham might move to Liverpool. And although their connection did not help the Reds swoop in and snatch Bellingham from Real Madrid last summer, there were signs of a partnership developing for England on Sunday night.
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Alexander-Arnold produced some incisive passes in the first half, linking up well down the right-hand side with Saka and Kyle Walker, but England’s performance dipped in the second period.
“Good game. I thought they were a very tough side. Very robust, strong and a big group of lads and it was important that we prepared well,” Bellingham said.
"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."
England face Denmark next on Thursday in Frankfurt before concluding their Group C campaign against Slovenia on June 25 in Cologne. The Danes were held to a 1-1 draw by Slovenia in Sunday’s earlier match as Christian Eriksen’s strike was cancelled out by Erik Janza’s deflected thunderbolt.