Tawalk: The result is great, but I am not happy with the players' performance

England manager Thomas Tuchel said yesterday that his team was “lucky” after narrowly defeating Norway 2-1 after extra time to reach the World Cup quarter-finals, a remark that sparked the ire of two-goal scorer Jude Bellingham.

Tuchel, visibly frustrated, was in no mood to celebrate after Bellingham’s second goal secured the victory for the Three Lions following a comeback from behind, in a tense match at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.

The German told reporters on the pitch shortly after his team’s win: “We made things very difficult for ourselves.”

After the match, in which Bellingham rescued the Three Lions with two goals, he responded to Tuchel’s comments, saying: “Yes, well, it doesn’t matter. It’s tough on the pitch; it’s an exhausting match. Every player went through an exhausting game. My thoughts and appreciation go to the players on the pitch who delivered a fantastic performance.”

When asked about England’s first goal, which came after the ball touched a camera cable, he added: “There is a chip inside the ball that can tell you if it was touched by a hair, as we’ve known since the Croatia-Portugal match. It should be able to tell you whether that happened. I wasn’t aware of it, and I didn’t see anything.”

Tuchel praised Bellingham, saying: “A world-class performance from a world-class player. In very big, decisive moments, he was absolutely at the top.”