Jude Bellingham reveals reason for new celebration as he heads England into winning start at Euro 2024

Jude Bellingham helped kick-start England’s European Championships as he scored the only goal against Serbia.

It was far from a perfect performance from Gareth Southgate’s side as they had to suffer for long periods of the second-half on the way to their win.

But Bellingham was ever impressive, always available for the ball and driving the team forward whenever he could.

The Real Madrid midfielder capped off his performance with a goal in the first-half as his late run into the box saw him arrive perfectly to head home from close range.

Fans have grown accustomed to the 20-year-old’s celebration of standing upright with his arms aloft to the fans, as they often recreate the same pose.

He marked England’s opening goal of Euro 2024 with his trademark celebration

But there was also time to debut a new celebration with Trent Alexander Arnold

But this time there was a new celebration for fans to enjoy as he celebrated opening the scoring.

After his goal, Bellingham was mobbed by his team mates and struck the usual pose, but as the team returned to the half-way line Bellingham and Trent Alexander-Arnold took a moment.

They dropped to one knee and while facing each other covered their face with one hand.

It may well be the birth of another iconic celebration from the England man if he carries on his red hot form in front of goal.

After the game, the former Birmingham midfielder explained the reasoning behind the celebration with Alexander-Arnold.

Speaking to the BBC as he collected his player of the match award he said: ‘When we play Wolf. One of the staff loves that face when he doesn’t have a clue what is going on so that was a little group celebration for the Wolf crew.’

Speaking the press conference after the game Bellingham added ‘it was more of a celebration for the backroom staff who put in so much work every day, and they won’t receive any awards like this or have the moments we get to have on the pitch.

‘But we value them so much and it is important going through the tournament we keep that atmosphere.’ 

It is believed that the celebration is in fact for England photographer Eddie Keogh.

For those not inside the camp, captain Harry Kane has shed some light on what Wolf is exactly.

England celebrated the opening goal as a group after Bellingham had opened the scoring

Alexander-Arnold lauded the goalscorer after he was mobbed by his teammates

There was plenty of celebrations from the Real Madrid midfielder who also fit in a knee slide

There was still time for Bellingham and Alexander-Arnold to drop down to one knee and cover their faces

For the England side, the game of Wolf or Werewolves as it is also known arose around the time of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

It is a card game that requires deceit and strategic thinking and is based on a game of a game of roleplay and deductionb called Mafia created by Dimitry Davidoff in 1986.

It sets a small informed group – the wolves as it were – against the uninformed majority, also known as the villagers. Each group then tries to deceive the other in order to win.

Speaking about the England camp playing the game back at the World Cup, Harry Kane said: ‘There are about 16 or 17 of us who play Wolf and it is a great way to kill some time. It also helps with team bonding.

‘When they put that wolf card in, you have to start lying and it is not easy, so I think I am a better villager than I am a wolf.

‘There are definitely a few who are better than me at deceiving people.’

Declan Rice added: ‘It’s about being the best liar. The villagers have got to sniff out the wolves and the wolves have got to lie and tell everyone they are not a wolf. There is a lot of teamwork, ganging up.;

It would appear that the game has followed the England squad to this year’s European Championships and they will be hoping that the team bonding it creates can inspire them to winning it all, having come so close three years ago.