'You have to suffer to win these big games' - England resilience delights Southgate

Gareth Southgate praised England’s resilience in their 2-1 win against Belgium, saying the players “have to suffer” to win such big games.

The Three Lions fell behind to Romelu Lukaku’s early penalty at Wembley, but Marcus Rashford levelled from the spot before the break.

Mason Mount then put England ahead with a deflected strike midway through the second half, with Southgate’s side holding on for a fine victory against the world’s number one ranked side.

It is Belgium’s first defeat for nearly two years and another impressive scalp for the Three Lions, who beat Spain during their run to the Nations League finals in 2019.

Southgate was particularly impressed with the battling qualities displayed by his side and hopes they can maintain those characteristics ahead of next summer’s European Championship.

“It was a top level game. We had a lot of young players there for whom that was a really great experience," he told Sky Sports.

"Belgium are a top side and we knew the questions they would ask us down the sides. In the first half, they overloaded us in wide areas and they caused us problems.

"The penalty gave us a foothold and our second half performance was so compact without the ball. In these games, you can’t just play with the ball. Against the very best, the detail of how you defend has to be bang on.

"We had to see that spell through and we had the resilience to do that. You have to suffer to win these big games and the players did that.”

One of the factors behind England’s improved performance in the second half was their ability to shackle Lukaku, who had been central to most of Belgium’s attacking play during the opening period.

Southgate admitted England could have done more to limit the Inter striker’s threat during the opening 45 minutes.

"We were getting caught in transition and he was getting balls played straight into him,” he added.

“We shouldn’t have got caught on the penalty. We should have been positionally better. But to ride that storm and to respond how we did was really impressive.”

The three points puts England top of their Nations Group having taken seven points from their opening three games.

Southgate, though, is keen to keep his players’ feet on the ground, with a clash with Denmark to come at Wembley on Wednesday.

"We’ve got loads that we can get better on. We’re not carried away by this win and need to back it up against Denmark,” said Southgate.

“The quality of our opponent is what we aspire to on a consistent basis.”