Southgate slams hapless Maguire's treatment as 'joke'

GLASGOW — England manager Gareth Southgate defended Harry Maguire after Scotland fans sarcastically mocked the defender, who scored an own goal in a friendly on Tuesday which England won 3-1 at Hampden Park.

Maguire, who began the match on the bench for England, was brought on at halftime due to an injury to Marc Guehi and faced ironic cheers from the Scottish fans for every pass he completed. The Manchester United defender inadvertently handed Scotland a lifeline by clumsily prodding a low cross into his own net in the 67th minute.

"There has been ridiculous treatment of him for a long period of time, frankly," Southgate said after the match.

"It's a joke. I've never known a player treated the way he is not by the Scottish fans, but by our own commentators, pundits, whatever, they've created something beyond anything I've ever seen."

The 30-year-old Maguire was stripped of the Manchester United captaincy in July and has struggled for first-team minutes at Old Trafford under Erik ten Hag.

Nonetheless, Southgate underlined his importance for England, with the centerback having featured in all of their Euro 2024 qualifying matches.

"He's been an absolute stalwart for us in the second most successful England team for decades. He's been an absolute key part of that," Southgate said.

Brilliant Bellingham

Scotland versus England is international soccer's oldest rivalry. Jude Bellingham is one of the sport's brightest young stars.

And on Tuesday the Real Madrid midfielder continued his outstanding start to the season by inspiring England to victory in Glasgow.

Bellingham, a product of second-tier Birmingham City's youth academy, scored a goal and provided an assist for Harry Kane after Phil Foden had fired the Three Lions ahead in the game that celebrated the 150-year anniversary of the Scottish Football Association. Maguire's own goal provided the only moment of cheer for the host.

Bellingham is back with his England teammates after making a sensational start to life at Madrid, where he has scored five goals in four games since joining from Borussia Dortmund in June for a fee that could reach $139 million.

He is quickly establishing himself as one of the world's elite players and is likely to be central to England's bid to win next year's European Championship.

"He's so mature for his age, an unreal talent, a massive talent and important for us with the way we play," Foden said. "We need Jude a lot and it's a pleasure to play with him and we link up really well."

The 20-year-old Bellingham dominated a Scotland team that is on the verge of qualifying for Euro 2024 itself after winning five out of five games in qualifying to top a group that includes Spain.

Bellingham said he hadn't been happy with his performance in England's 1-1 draw against Ukraine on Saturday.

"It wasn't anywhere near my best and the motivation is always to get back to your best. I got somewhere close tonight," he said.

Scotland's form had given its supporters hope of a famous win against its fiercest rival in the 116th meeting between the teams.

The fixture dates back to 1872 and, but for a pause during World War II, the clash was held annually until 1989.

This was only the ninth meeting since then, with the majority of those matches in tournaments or qualifying.

Agencies