England’s Jude Bellingham was in full flow with two goals inside two minutes

England’s players dropped to their knees in sheer elation and exhaustion at the end of a performance fit for heroes as Mexico’s great fortress of the Azteca was breached. On a spine-tingling night of drama, emotion and pure theatre in one of sport’s most atmospheric arenas, England delivered one of their great World Cup victories.

In fact, one of their great victories full stop. Arguably their best since the World Cup was won at Wembley in 1966.

And head coach Thomas Tuchel, who shook two-goal hero Jude Bellingham in sheer joy after the final whistle before the pair collapsed into each other’s arms, had masterminded exactly the sort of win the Football Association had in mind when he was appointed.

England won 3-2 to move forward to play Norway in the quarter-final in Miami on Saturday. The scoreline alone barely touches the sides of a night that will never be forgotten by anyone who experienced it.

Tuchel and his players have been presented with barriers from the moment they arrived in Mexico, from the Azteca’s altitude of more than 7,000ft, the sheer noise and hostility they were confronted with here, the game delayed for an hour by storms, then Jarell Quansah’s red card early in the second half. (BBC sport)