Bellingham gets unconvincing England off to winning Euros debut

The atmosphere created by the fans of both national teams, who engaged in a few brawls around the city hours before Sunday's match at the Veltins-Arena in Gelsenkirchen, caused sparks to fly between the players in the opening minutes of the game.

The Three Lions started the first half pressing high and creating several chances to prove their worth as European tournament favourites. Gareth Southgate felt the pressure off his shoulders as Real Madrid star Jude Bellingham broke the deadlock with a superb header following a cross from Arsenal's Bukayo Saka from the right flank.

The visitors were comfortably in control for the first 45 minutes despite a few scares from the Serbian attack. The Serbs' clearest chance came in the 21st minute when Andrija Zivkovic capitalised on a mistake in their opponents' defence and found Aleksandar Mitrovic with little space. The Al-Hilal player had a great chance to restart the game which he missed by firing the ball wide of Jordan Pickford's goal.

The underdogs tried not to be dominated by England but keeping them at bay proved a difficult task. Southgate's men kept creating chances to extend their lead in the first period but their efforts were in vain. So much so that they failed to score their second goal from a free-kick taken by Trent Alexander-Arnold in the 30th minute, which meant they went in at half-time leading 1-0.