Rooney Hails Bellingham's '10 out of 10' Display: 'Like Gerrard and Keane'

Wayne Rooney has placed Jude Bellingham’s latest England performance in the same bracket as iconic Champions League displays from Steven Gerrard and Roy Keane. Bellingham, 23, scored twice in just 98 seconds as Thomas Tuchel’s side edged a thrilling World Cup last-16 tie 3-2 against Mexico at the Azteca Stadium, despite being reduced to 10 men. The victory sets up a quarterfinal showdown with Norway as England chase their first world title since 1966. Speaking on his broadcaster podcast, former Three Lions striker Rooney compared Bellingham’s influence to Gerrard’s in Liverpool’s 2005 Champions League final comeback against AC Milan and Keane’s driving performance for Manchester United against Juventus in the 1999 semifinal. “I said Jude Bellingham was going to have a game when we’re going to need him to drag us through,” Rooney explained. “You look at Steven Gerrard against AC Milan in the 2005 Champions League final. Roy Keane against Juventus for Manchester United. They dragged the teams through those games. “I felt like that was Bellingham’s one with those two goals — the timing of the goals, his desire, his work rate, his hunger.” Rooney rated the Real Madrid star’s performance as a perfect 10, noting not only the goals but also a last-ditch tackle on Mexico defender Cesar Montes that prevented an equalizer just before halftime. “At times defensively he’s not always in the right positions, but his desire to get back and put that last-minute tackle in and help his teammates when they’re not maybe having the best game was everything,” Rooney added. “I just felt when you get asked to mark them out of 10, you’re looking, thinking — could he have done a little bit more to get that mark up? I just felt it was the right game to give him a 10 out of 10.”