"Best player on the pitch by a kilometer" - England fans praise 22-year-old star's performance in their 1-0 Euro 2024 win over Serbia
Fans heaped praise on 22-year-old Bukayo Saka for his performance in England's Euro 2024 opener against Serbia on Sunday, June 16. The match ended in a 1-0 win for the Three Lions at the Veltins-Arena in Gelsenkirchen, Germany.
England opened the scoring through Jude Bellingham in the 13th minute. Saka led the ball to the byline after getting on the end of Kyle Walker's pass before sending a cross towards the penalty spot, which Bellingham flawlessly netted with a stunning close-range header.
Fans took to social media to appreciate the Arsenal forward's gameplay and the chances he created. Here is a collection of their posts on X:
One fan wrote:
"Saka best player on the pitch by a kilometer."
Another added:
"Saka is incredible, yet you see people try and force narratives like he’s some average player."
"Ridiculous ridiculous footballer, Saka was immense today and almost always is no matter the role or position," chimed in another fan.
One account posted:
"Saka can run in behind, cook his defender 1v1, link up, control a 60-yard pass and hold the ball like a 6ft target man. What a player this guy is."
Another said:
"I see why Arsenal fans die on the line for Bukayo Saka. That kid is special."
One user wrote:
"Eng without Saka is dead."
While another wrote:
"How is Saka rated 6.6 and Foden 7? Were we watching the same match??"
England will face Denmark next in Euro 2024 on Thursday, June 20, at Deutsche Bank Park in Frankfurt, Germany. The Danes drew 1-1 with Slovenia in their opening match on Sunday.
Gareth Southgate's comments after England's 1-0 win against Serbia in Euro 2024
Following England's victory against Serbia in their opening match of Euro 2024, head coach Gareth Southgate shared his thoughts about the clash and told BBC:
"They are a strong team. We had to suffer a bit which I think is really good for us. I think to defend the box the way we did was really good for us. I was really pleased with a lot of the play. Second half we didn't keep it as well as I would have liked but to get the win is very important."
Speaking about Jude Bellingham and the other attacking players, the England manager added:
"He writes his own script. The timing of his runs. It was a super bit of play in the build-up of his play. I think all of our forward players looked really good."
"I am confident we will score goals. Playing against a back five it is not easy to create chances and we did. I liked the fact we had to suffer without the ball because that is an area we have worked on a lot this week. We were obviously much better than last week at doing that."
England have been victorious in their opening matches at all four major tournaments (Euro 2020 & 2024, and World Cup 2018 & 2022) under Gareth Southgate, who took charge of the Three Lions in 2016.