Phil Foden needs to start bossing England games like Jude Bellingham: Winners and losers as Man City star falls flat yet again for the Three Lions while Real Madrid star shows how to handle the big stage in Euro 2024 opener

Even the week before the Champions League final, Bellingham was thinking about the Euros. And so it was no surprise that he put in a statement performance in his first game of the tournament.

Bellingham played with the competitive edge and fighting spirit as if it were the final, which was summed up when he slammed his chest into Filip Kostic by the touchline. He demanded the ball at all times, but also helped out defensively, and he was not fazed by an early elbow bang to the face from Dusan Vlahovic as he scored his goal, an aggressive header, shortly afterwards.

Naturally, Bellingham had begun the move which led to the goal by spraying the ball to Kyle Walker. He was deservedly named Player of the Match; expect plenty more of those awards to follow by the end of the tournament.

You have to feel sorry for Foden. Even after the incredible season he has had, scoring 27 goals and winning two major individual awards, he gets upstaged by Bellingham winning the Champions League with Real Madrid.

Foden's recent achievements would be enough to earn him the role of talisman in almost any other side at these Euros, but Bellingham is very much the leader of this team. Even so, Foden needs to up his game after this rusty display.

The Manchester City midfielder was absent from England's best moves in the first half, and in the second he was far too casual with the ball, surrendering it on eight occasions. His passing numbers were not awful, but they were still way behind Bellingham's: he made 57 passes compared to his team-mate's 70 and posted 86 percent accuracy, while the Real Madrid man had 96% accuracy.

It cannot be easy for Foden as Bellingham takes up a lot of the positions he would ideally like to. Barring injury, however, there is no chance of the boy from Birmingham going anywhere, so he has little choice but to learn to dovetail with him.

Saka was booed by Serbia's fans when he first got on the ball and they were right to be wary of the winger, who ripped their defence apart for as long as he was on the pitch. The Arsenal man has had a draining club season and there were some concerns about how fit he would be for England's opener.

But he quickly banished any doubts about his sharpness by having Strahinja Pavlovic on toast within the first few minutes. He continued to cause havoc each time he got on the ball and it was no surprise that the opening goal came from a cross from Saka, albeit with the help of a deflection.

Saka has a lot of competition for his berth on the right of the attack from Jarrod Bowen, who did well when replacing him in the second half, and Cole Palmer. But here he showed that, as long as he is fit, he should always be starting.

It was a familiar feeling when England struggled to hold on to their lead in a ragged second half display. Southgate's side have been here before in major tournaments, taking the lead and not knowing how to take the next step.

The 2018 World Cup semi-final against Croatia and the Euro 2020 final against Italy are the most painful examples, and there was a sense of déjà vu when Serbia came flying out of the blocks after half-time and England didn't know how to cope. They resorted to the same tactic they had pursued in those games: launching the ball forward and quickly losing it.

Foden was the worst culprit, but Trent Alexander-Arnold and Kieran Trippier also played some loose passes which were intercepted. Southgate's response was to bring on Conor Gallagher, who gave England more energy but could not address the problem of relinquishing control. Bringing on Kobbie Mainoo earlier would have been a better move.

After the defeat to Iceland, it was said that England's opponents would be following the same blueprint of sitting back and suffocating the Three Lions. But Denmark and Slovenia would have learned that even if you concede the first goal, England can still be vulnerable.

The BBC released a new podcast in the build-up to the tournament called 'You'll Never Beat Kyle Walker',celebrating the Manchester City defender's recovery speed and ability to keep hold of even the best forwards in the world.

Walker's status as the best one-v-one defender around is well earned, but it has come at the cost of his attacking qualities being curbed. But here was a reminder of how good he can still be in the final third.

It was Walker who played in Saka to set up Bellingham's goal, and it was the right-back who surged down the right flank soon after to get in a dangerous crossing position, only for no England attacker to try and get on the end of his cross.

With Trippier playing out of position at left-back, England had to rely more on Walker as an attacking threat and they should look to use him again in this way as the tournament goes on.

Serbia's dangerman Mitrovic would have been relishing this game against many of his former Premier League opponents and went into the encounter in ruthless form, having fired in 32 goals in as many games to help lead Al-Hilal to the Saudi Pro League title and domestic cup.

But he was left frustrated in every sense here. He missed the target when he got a glorious chance in the first half, scuffing well wide of the near post when played in by Andrija Zivkovic after he mugged Alexander-Arnold, but completely miscued, missing the target. His only other notable contribution was trying, in vain, to win a penalty after being out-muscled by Trippier.

That was the last straw for coach Dragan Stojkovic, who seconds later substituted the target man for Luka Jovic, cutting short Mitrovic's night after just 61 minutes.