Jude Bellingham delivered the most complete England performance of his career as the Three Lions beat Croatia 7-0 in Rijeka in the Nations League on Saturday. The Real Madrid midfielder scored once, set up three more goals, and finished the night wearing the captain’s armband in a rout that stands as the heaviest defeat in Croatia’s history. The Bellingham England Croatia scoreline will be the main talking point around the Bernabeu this week, and for good reason.
Bellingham set up Bukayo Saka’s opening goal with a precise cross and ended the game directly involved in more than two goals for England for the first time in his international career. In doing so, he became the first England player to register three assists in a match since Trent Alexander-Arnold managed it against San Marino back in November 2021.
It is a pointed response to a difficult few months. Thomas Tuchel left Bellingham out of his squad entirely in October 2025, a decision we examined at the time in our Tuchel piece, before recalling him for the World Cup. Few could have predicted he would answer in quite this fashion. For a player who spent much of the autumn fielding questions about his place in this side, there was no better way to respond.
Detailed First Half Narrative
Croatia barely had time to settle before England’s control became obvious. Bellingham operated as the free man in central midfield, dropping deep to collect the ball before driving beyond Croatia’s defensive line whenever the space opened up. His delivery for Saka’s opening goal summed up the pattern of the half: a precise cross met cleanly by the Arsenal forward.
That freedom did not come by accident. Speaking to BBC Sport, Tuchel explained that he had adjusted some things after the World Cup and had given players, Bellingham included, a lot of responsibility. The opening exchanges in Rijeka showed exactly what that trust can produce once it clicks.
None of this arrived from nowhere. Bellingham made England’s World Cup squad and was arguably the side’s standout performer, according to BBC Sport’s analysis of the tournament, finishing as England’s top scorer with seven goals. The cross for Saka on Saturday looked like an extension of that form rather than a one-off.
England’s Nations League campaign has already produced its share of drama this autumn, from the tense finish at Wembley covered in our Wembley report to the flashpoint between Bellingham and Marc Cucurella detailed in the Spain clash. Rijeka offered something calmer: control from kick-off, with Bellingham dictating the tempo for the rest of the half.
Detailed Second Half Narrative & Drama
Croatia’s resistance disappeared entirely after the break. England kept pushing bodies forward, Bellingham kept finding pockets of space between the lines, and the scoreline kept growing. He added a goal of his own before completing a hat-trick of assists, a night in which he had a direct hand in four of England’s seven goals.
That armband mattered more than most will have noticed. Tuchel had left him out of the squad entirely as recently as October 2025, and this Bellingham England Croatia night in Rijeka will be remembered as the moment doubts about his place were put to rest.
Reaction to the second-half surge was immediate. Roy Keane, speaking on ITV and quoted in the BBC report on the game, did not hold back. “Jude Bellingham can go on to be one of the greatest players of all time,” he said. “At this moment in time, he is an amazing footballer. The package – his running power, his delivery, his goal threat. The way he is progressing as a player, I still think there is a lot more to come from him.”
Keane went further on what Bellingham offers without the ball. “He has been fantastic in possession but what he does out of possession lifts all these other players,” he said. “He is a huge leader for them.”
Tuchel framed the win as part of a longer process rather than a standalone statement. He said the performance was a way to move on from the disappointment of England’s World Cup semi-final defeat to Argentina, according to BBC Sport.
Asked whether Bellingham had reached a new level, his answer captured that outlook: “Yes, at the moment it seems like it, and you always need to.” He explained the standard he expects from every player: “It’s like you can never stand still. It’s like on these electric escalators, if you stand still, you walk against the escalator. You have to walk to even maintain your level. You have to develop and you have to push for the next level, otherwise other teams will catch up.”
Player Ratings (home side)
England’s rout was built on a collective effort, but the verified detail from Saturday centres on two players above the rest. Both delivered the kind of performance that will be replayed long after the final whistle.
Jude Bellingham: 10/10. A goal and three assists made this the stand-out individual performance of his England career. His cross set up Saka’s opener and his control of midfield shaped the rest of the match.
Bukayo Saka: 8/10. Saka met Bellingham’s cross cleanly to open the scoring and kept combining with his Real Madrid teammate throughout a one-sided evening. Afterwards he was quick to credit the man alongside him rather than himself.
“He was amazing tonight,” Saka said of Bellingham, quoted by BBC Sport. “He deserved player of the year and he deserved man of the match tonight too. He was special.” He added: “[I’m] happy to play with him and happy to have him in the England team.”
No further individual detail from Saturday’s team has been confirmed for this report, but the scale of the victory left little doubt about where the credit belonged.
Player Ratings (opponent)
Croatia’s starting eleven does not come with the same confirmed individual detail, and this report will not guess at names or numbers that were not verified. What is beyond doubt is the scale of the result and how little answer the team had on the night.
That record tells its own story. Croatia’s defence had no answer for Bellingham’s range of passing or England’s movement in behind. A result on that scale will prompt a serious inquest at home, even though the specifics of that reckoning sit outside the scope of this report. Nights like this are rare even by the standards of a competitive international fixture, and Rijeka will not forget it quickly.
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