Jude Bellingham stars as England defeat Scotland in football’s oldest international rivalry

Scotland versus England is the oldest international rivalry in football. Jude Bellingham is one of the sport’s brightest young stars.

The Real Madrid midfielder continued his brilliant start to the season on Tuesday, inspiring England to a 3-1 victory at Hampden Park.

Bellingham scored and provided an assist for Harry Kane after Phil Foden fired the Three Lions forward in a match to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Scottish Football Association. The only moment of joy for the hosts was Harry Maguire’s own goal.

Bellingham returns to his England teammates after a sensational start to life in Madrid, where he has scored five goals in four games since joining from Borussia Dortmund in June for a reported fee of up to $139 million.

He is quickly establishing himself as one of the world’s elite players and is likely to play a key role in England’s bid to win next year’s European Championships.

“He is very mature for his age, he has unreal talent, huge talent and he is important for us because of the way we play,” Foden said. “We really need Jude and he is a pleasure to play with and we have a really good rapport.”

Bellingham, 20, has dominated for the Scottish team, which itself is on the brink of qualifying for Euro 2024 after winning five of its five qualifying matches to secure top spot in the group that includes Spain.

Bellingham said he was not satisfied with his performance in England’s 1-1 draw with Ukraine on Saturday.

“It wasn’t even close to my best result, and the motivation is always to get back to the best. I was close tonight,” he said.

Scotland’s form gave fans hope of a famous victory over their fiercest rival in the 116th meeting between the two teams.

The origins of the meeting date back to 1872 and, with the exception of a break during World War II, the clashes took place every year until 1989.

This was only the ninth meeting since then, and most of these matches were tournament or qualifying.

The competition remains fierce even in the absence of regular matches, which was evident before kick-off when the England anthem was drowned out by fans’ jeers.

A moment of silence to pay respect to the late Scotland manager Craig Brown and those affected by the tragic events in Morocco and Libya was then broken by parts of the stadium.

The hostile atmosphere did not prevent England from consolidating its advantage from the very beginning and by the break the guests were leading 2-0.

Bellingham and Foden tore Scotland apart with their movement and passing.

Foden skillfully headed the ball into Kyle Walker’s net from close range in the 32nd minute.

Three minutes later, Bellingham took advantage of an error by Andy Robertson in the Scotland penalty area and fired a shot into a crowded penalty area.

Scotland failed to register a shot on target before the break and posed no threat in the second half until given the chance to get back into the game.

The ball fell to substitute Maguire, who scored in Robertson’s own net in the 67th minute.

There was a reaction from the crowd, but it was England who increased the intensity.

Substitute Eberechi Eze was denied by Scottish goalkeeper Angus Gunn as he scored and in the 81st Kane completed the scoring.

Bellingham provided a concealed pass on the edge of the box and Kane finished clinically to score a record 59th goal for England.

“England started like the best team. We’re not there but we’re trying to improve, get better,” Scotland coach Steve Clarke said. “We have always emerged stronger from adversity and hopefully we will continue to do so.”

Scotland need two points to qualify for Euro 2024.

“The camp was a success because we had excellent results in the qualifying group. We’re in a good place,” Clarke added.

Associated Press reports.

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