Fans have hailed Jude Bellingham for his ‘cold’ penalty in England’s Euro 2024 quarter-final shootout victory against Switzerland.
With the game level at 1-1 after 120 minutes, penalties were needed to separate the two sides and Bellingham stepped up second for England after Cole Palmer had scored his spot-kick and Manuel Akanji had his saved by Jordan Pickford.
The midfielder had the chance to put his side 2-0 ahead and did exactly that as he stuttered his run-up before sending Switzerland goalkeeper Yann Sommer the wrong way.
After finding the net, Bellingham stared into the crowd and called for England fans to lift the noise, and his spot-kick got a big reaction on social media.
‘Jude Bellingham penalty so cold,’ one fan wrote on X.
Jude Bellingham kept his cool to slot his penalty past Yann Sommer in the shootout
He called for England fans to make more noise, and sparked a huge reaction on social media
‘That Bellingham penalty was NASTYYYY,’ another supported claimed.
Sommer got nowhere near Bellingham’s penalty after the 21-year-old cheekily made him dive the wrong way, and one X user admitted: ‘Bellingham sold me with that pen too’.
All five of England’s penalty-takers went on to score as the Three Lions prevailed 5-3 on penalties to move into the Euro 2024 semi-finals.
Cole Palmer, Bukayo Saka, Ivan Toney and Trent Alexander-Arnold all stepped up to score as Southgate’s men held their nerve.
It was a particularly big moment for Saka after his miss in the Euros final three years ago, but he confidently stepped up this time to slot home.
Saka was also England’s standout player during the regular game and scored England’s equaliser after Breel Embolo had put Switzerland ahead.
Bellingham showed glimpses of his quality, but endured a frustrating evening at times and was brutally mocked by a Switzerland fan following a tussle with Fabian Schar in the first half.
Bellingham went to ground and Schar was booked for his tackle, but one Switzerland supporter thought it was soft and was seen mimicking Bellingham crying.
It was Bellingham who had the final laugh, though, at the end of a week where he escaped a ban following a UEFA investigation into his controversial goal celebration last weekend.
Bellingham appeared to perform a crude gesture towards the Slovakia bench after scoring an overhead kick in the 95th minute to keep England in the tournament.
He was hit with a £25,000 fine and given a suspended one-match ban, but was crucially available to face Switzerland, and he made his mark in the penalty shootout.
