‘But he has only performed averagely for Real since Christmas. In the Champions League, he was barely seen in the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final. That’s why I’m not surprised by his performances at the European Championships.

‘Bellingham is undoubtedly a good player, but he needs to confirm his performances from last year. Many are talking about the Ballon d’Or, but I don’t see him as a world footballer at the moment.’

Despite producing the moment of magic that saved England, there are still some fans who believe Bellingham should be dropped as he has looked below-par for much of the tournament and admitted he felt ‘absolutely dead’ towards the end of the group stage.

Three Lions legend Shearer was asked if Bellingham should make way on The Rest is Football podcast and said: ‘There is no way he should be dropped.

‘How can you drop him? It’s ridiculous. Of course he shouldn’t be dropped, he’s got to be in the team.’

Fellow former England striker and Match of the Day host Gary Lineker added: ‘That’s just an emphatic no, isn’t it?’

Speaking after England’s dramatic last-16 victory, Southgate admitted he almost subbed off Bellingham before his remarkable goal, saying he ‘wondered if he was out on his feet’.

‘We were thinking should we take him off, but you know he is capable of those sorts of moments,’ Southgate said. ‘With 15 minutes to go you wonder if he is out on his feet.

‘We know in the game itself we needed to better with the ball, we couldn’t find the right solutions in the first half and we did it better in the second.

‘Under that pressure they kept probing. In the end it is the old fashioned long throw that gets the goal, those moments can happen when you keep wearing a team down.’

England’s Euro 2024 quarter-final opponents Switzerland beat reigning champions Italy last time out after finishing second in Group B behind hosts Germany.

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