Serbia v England player ratings: Bellingham 8, Kane 5; Milenkovic 8, Mitrovic 6

England's Jude Bellingham celebrates after scoring the opening goal during a Group C match between Serbia and England at the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, Sunday, June 16, 2024. (AP Photo / Martin Meissner)

Jude Bellingham gave England a dream start in their Euro 2024 clash with Serbia but the Three Lions were made to sweat for their Group C victory.

Real Madrid's young superstar Bellingham put the Three Lions ahead after just 13 minutes as he finished a move he had started with a thumping header.

At that stage, Gareth Southgate's team looked in total command, with Bukayo Saka, who supplied the cross for Bellingham's opener, tormenting Serbia's defence.

But the Serbs started to grow into the game towards the end of the first half and put England under intense pressure in the second half, with goalkeeper Jordan Pickford forced into making a superb save from Dusan Vlahovic late in the game.

After the game, Bellingham said that securing the three points in Gelsenkirchen was all that mattered.

La Liga's player of the season told the BBC: "I thought they are a very tough side. Very robust, strong and a big group of lads and it was important that we prepared well.

"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's record goalscorer Harry Kane, who had a quiet night but did force a superb save from Serbia keeper Predrag Rajkovic late on, said: "We knew it was going to be a tough game, Serbia pose a lot of threats and have some good players. They will make it a battle for you and I think we dealt with it really well. There was a spell in the second half where we got camped in our box and we found it hard to get out but it was an important win tonight.

"It's a tough game. They are a tough team and have good players. We stood up to it well and it is good to get the three points and [for us] to progress. It's good that we got the win today."

Manager Southgate said: “Today was just the finishing and a good save from the goalkeeper from the Kane header at the end.

“But that will come. I’m confident we will score goals. You’re playing against a back five. It’s not easy to create chances, but we did and in the end one was enough.”

Southgate said it was good to see his side come through after they “had to suffer a bit”.

“That’s the reality of tournaments,” he said. “They’re a strong team. We had to suffer a bit, which I think is really good for us, to come through and defend our box the way we did. The pressure was important for the group.

“We had good chances to extend the lead and kill the game, which we didn’t manage to take. So I was really pleased with a lot of the play, especially the first half, I thought we used the ball really well.

“Second half, we didn’t keep it quite as well as we need to, but to get the win and the start we have is really important.”

England next face Denmark, who drew 1-1 with Slovenia on Sunday, in Frankfurt on Thursday.