Jude Bellingham inspired England to victory over Mexico and Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice has made his feelings on the real Madrid man crystal clear
11:52, 06 Jul 2026
Declan Rice and Jude Bellingham
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Declan Rice and Jude Bellingham celebrate England's World Cup win over Mexico (Photo by Ulrik Pedersen/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Declan Rice has sent a one-word message to Jude Bellingham after his heroics inspired England to a historic win over Mexico to reach the World Cup quarter-finals.
Bellingham scored twice in 98 seconds in a historic 3-2 last-16 win over the co-hosts at the Estadio Azteca. Jarell Quansah's 54th minute red card meant the Three Lions had to dig deep with 10 men for most of the second half but Thomas Tuchel's side held on to set up a quarter-final clash with Norway on Saturday.
“I am proud of the group of lads, a squad, a nation. It felt like a country’s performance,” Bellingham said after the game. “Everything I have seen this week is the country behind us, we knew how difficult it was going to be, an unbelievable atmosphere, Mexico are a good team.
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“So to get this win is the best night of my England career, definitely. I was quite emotional at full-time, I wanted to grab as many players as I could because it was a team win. Every single player played their part. No player did more than anyone else.”
In the early hours of Monday morning, Bellingham took to Instagram to share a number of snaps from the monumental win. He captioned the post: "A win for the ages at the Azteca. This team! These fans! Let your boss know you won’t be making it in tomorrow."
Arsenal midfielder Rice took to the comments to show his appreciation for the Real Madrid man, writing: "Sensational." Harry Kane also made his feelings known, writing: "Incredible performance."
Rice was another who took to social media to share pictures of himself celebrating, with the former West Ham star and Bellingham embracing in one of the images. He wrote: "History made at the Azteca. Love this team!!!" Bellingham returned the favour and commented: "Warrior."
Rice, Bellingham and the England squad will now rest and recover before heading to the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami to face Norway, who knocked out Brazil with Erling Haaland scoring both goals in a 2-0 victory.
The group will begin gearing up for Norway on Wednesday, with a potential semi-final against Argentina far from Tuchel’s mind even after avenging Diego Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ on their return to the Azteca. “I will not talk about the semi-final,” the England boss said.
“Now we have the chance for some days off. I tell you something: I will not re-watch our match, and I will not watch anything about Norway in the next 24 hours. I will do one full day without football and then we will think about Norway, and then we will think ahead.
“We will take it step by step. There is no other way. I agree, we had a very sad history with the stadium, so we made peace today. I just heard from your colleagues what the record was in World Cups from Mexico in this stadium.
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“We know what it takes to beat Mexico in the Azteca in a World Cup, we know what it takes to score three goals against the team who didn’t concede a single goal until now. We’re not thinking about semi-finals.”
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