Gareth Southgate was already without countless starters ahead of matches against Brazil and Belgium. He lost Harry Kane, Jordan Henderson and Bukayo Saka without them kicking a ball and Manchester City duo Kyle Walker and John Stones to in-game injuries. And Bellingham highlighted those issues among a plethora Southgate has had to deal with this time around, adding: "We trust everyone that comes into the squad. They all come into the squad because they’re good players.
"Of course it’s hard for the gaffer, people need to realise how hard it is. You plan these games, these sides for games, because you expect a fully-fit team and you expect to give it a really good crack. And the skipper gets injured, Bukayo, Hendo’s obviously out, Walks, Stonesy now. It’s a really difficult one for us, but I’m sure the manager’s happy with the players he got to see. They were brilliant."