Bellingham sets record as England defeat Croatia 7-0
Jude Bellingham produced a stunning performance to lead England to a 7-0 win over Croatia in a Nations League clash at the Stadion HNK in Rijeka on Saturday.
The Real Madrid midfielder scored once and recorded three assists to lead the Three Lions to their biggest win under Thomas Tuchel.
He became the first midfielder to record four goal involvements in a match for England since David Platt scored four against San Marino in February 1993.
Harry Kane opened the scoring in the eighth minute before Jude Bellingham made it 2-0 in the 21st minute.
Anthony Gordon made it four goals in four games with the third goal in the 39th minute.
Bukayo Saka added the fourth from a Jude Bellingham assist on the stroke of halftime to give England a commanding 4-0 lead going into the break.
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Eight minutes after the restart, Kane made it 5-0 from Elliot Anderson’s cross.
Saka completed his brace following Croatia’s poor defending to make it 6-0.
Substitute Morgan Rogers put the icing on the cake with a close range finish to seal an emphatic win for England.
The Three Lions have now won their last two games against Czech Republic and Croatia after losing their first match against Spain.
England coach Thomas Tuchel was full of praise for the team’s performance.
He said: “Maybe three minutes after the 3-0 where we had the big mistake [Mateo Kovacic’s opportunity] and some easy ball losses, but that was a 90-minute performance at the highest level from everyone.
“From the first until the last minute, everyone who started and everyone came from the bench, it was the highest level and congratulations to the team.
“On an away pitch very, very impressive. We created so many chances. The first 40 minutes we were so fluid from the start. I remember looking at the clock, I thought, ‘Wow, this is a good three minutes’, then looked again and it was a good seven minutes.
“It just never stopped. We kept the pace up and played through the gaps. We were very clinical. We stayed hungry in our counter-pressing and defending, so we did the basics right. I love the attitude. We always played humble and always got the basics right and that’s why it was a complete performance.”
England will return to action against Czechia on Tuesday at home.
