Jordan Pickford admits he feared VAR intervention following ‘Golden Boy’ Jude Bellingham’s emphatic England equaliser
Jordan Pickford feared England could be on the wrong end of another VAR decision to dump them out of Euro 2024.
The Three Lions left it late in the last 16 tie against Slovakia as Jude Bellingham equalised in emphatic fashion in the fifth minute of stoppage time.
Captain Harry Kane then headed England into the lead shortly into extra-time, where they held on for a 2-1 win to set up a quarter-final clash with Switzerland on Saturday, live on talkSPORT.
But it was Bellingham's overhead kick that sparked the comeback, with the Real Madrid starlet appearing to scream, 'Who else?,' following his second goal of the tournament.
While players wildly celebrated his strike, Pickford has admitted he thought that England may fall victim to a third disallowed goal in Germany, which would have seen them subject to another humiliating last-16 exit at the Euros.
Phil Foden thought he had levelled the game up shortly into the second half against Slovakia from close range, but he was adjudged to be offside having gone too early when meeting Kieran Trippier's low cross.
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And it was Foden who was also ruled to be offside in the 0-0 draw with Slovenia in England's final Group C match, where he latched onto Declan Rice's pass before squaring for Bukayo Saka.
Commenting on Bellingham's stunning equaliser, Pickford said: "It was an unbelievable moment.
"And then you start thinking is VAR going to come into play or anything like that?
"Because after the equaliser with Phil, VAR came in and that kind of deflated [us].
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"But like I said, that emotion, that buzz around the place - Slovakia must have thought they had it in the bag.
"But then we had to step on the gas in extra time, which we did, early doors, Harry getting that second goal.
"Then it was about our mentality to see the game out."
And Pickford has also been quick to laud Bellingham and Kane - England's only two goalscorers at the European Championship so far.
He remarked: "You've got two superstars - Jude and Harry - who have come up with the goods.
"And Jude's the Golden Boy again with the overhead kick to keep us in the game, keep us in the tournament.
"But we never say die, that's what it was last night, it was a roller coaster, but we got it over the line.
"It's not how you play, we've got to show resilience and it's just about winning the match and that's what we did, we went into the trenches and come out the other side."
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