As soon as Jude Bellingham saw the Birmingham City flags in Rome and heard the cheers, he made his way over and threw his shirt into them.
They’d travelled a long way top watch England beat Ukraine and to throw their support behind their beloved academy graduate, who ensured one of them was taking home a memento.
Getty
He later admitted to talkSPORT, who filmed the scenes in the aftermath at the Stadio Olimpico win that he couldn’t help himself.
Having topped Group D and beaten Germany 2-0 in a mammoth last-16 tie, the Three Lions flourished as they headed on the road for the first and only time at this pan-European tournament.
Harry Kane scored twice in Saturday’s quarter-final against Ukraine in Rome, where Harry Maguire and Jordan Henderson also found the net in a 4-0 victory that sealed their return to Wembley.
And it’s clear that Bellingham, who started his career at Birmingham before moving to Borussia Dortmund in 2020, will always have the Blues in his heart.
The club even retired his no.22 shirt number following his £25million exit and he won praise for his gesture afterwards.
One user on Twitter wrote: “This kid is a legend man, world at his feet – what a boy.”
Another simply simply said: “Nice touch from the lad,” with another saying he will always be a Blue.
In Rome, though, he was among a number of England supporters who stayed on the pitch to applaud the fans and throw their shirts into the stands.
Manager Gareth Southgate is now being hailed as one of the nation’s greatest managers ever and believes England have put themselves back on the football map and brought the nation together as the Three Lions stormed into the semi-finals.
“When I look at the people who are in that list of England managers, Sir Bobby [Robson] and Sir Alf [Ramsey], so many of the managers who have gone before, it is an absolute honour to be in that sort of company,” he said.
“I know how high I hold them in esteem and it is lovely to be able to get the results that are putting our country back on the football map again, really.
“Teams have to go on a bit of a journey and they have to go through some pain sometimes to be able to progress.
“We’ve had some great nights over the last four years, but we’ve also had some painful nights and we’ve learned from all of those experiences and that’s definitely helped us prepare for another tournament and prepare for the individual games.
“We didn’t want to take a backward step, we wanted to really grasp the opportunity rather than hope that we might win or, you know, let fate have a chance to play its part. And I thought the players were decisive and ruthless all night.”
BETTING SPECIAL: FREE BETS AND SIGN UP OFFERS FOR EURO 2020
