Moment of magic from Kobbie Mainoo leads to England's equaliser against Belgium

Kobbie Mainoo shone on his full England debut against Belgium, further justifying why Gareth Southgate has fast-tracked him into the senior squad.

The 18-year-old wonderkid has been a revelation for Manchester United of late, becoming a hugely important player for Erik ten Hag's side.

And having been impressed with his displays, Southgate elected to promote him from the Under 21 side.

Mainoo churned in a fine cameo against Brazil on Saturday and was rewarded with a start in midfield at Wembley on Tuesday.

England were 1-0 down after a Jordan Pickford gaffe lead to Youri Tielemans opening the scoring before Ivan Toney opened his account for England after scoring a penalty that he won.

But the leveller came about after a wondrous sequence from Mainoo.

Confident as ever, he picked up the ball in midfield and skipped past a couple of challenges before finding Jude Bellingham in the pocket.

The Real Madrid star played through Toney, who was brought down by Jan Vertonghen.

It was mesmeric from Mainoo, who looks a very special talent already.

Jarrod Bowen thought he had put England in the lead when he flicked home a header from a corner, only for VAR to rule out the goal for offside.

Tielemans then scored his and Belgium's second, heading home a delicious outside of the boot cross from Romelu Lukaku after some slack defending from Lewis Dunk.

Mainoo was easily England's most impressive performer on the night and ahead of the game, Southgate talked up his abilities.

In his press conference, he said: "He [Mainoo] seems very calm. Definitely you can see he is taking everything in. Talking to him tactically, he seems able to take all those concepts on.

“There are a lot of steps being taken in a very short period of time but you saw in the brief cameo the other day some of the qualities he has.

“I think also sometimes, with the really young ones, they are not even thinking about that. It is all flowing and maybe then as you get a bit older you start to think about it a bit more.

“When you get even older you cannot care less about it and you go again. It is a beautiful, innocent moment when he is just in the flow. And lapping up the opportunities as they come.”

Featured Image Credit: Channel 4

Topics: Kobbie Mainoo, Manchester United, England

Josh Lawless

Josh is a sports journalist who specialises in football and wrestling. He has been published by Curzon Ashton FC, Late Tackle, Manchester City FC, The Mirror, Read Man City and Manchester Evening News. He provides coverage of professional wrestling and has interviewed some of the biggest names in the field - including the first UK interview with The Hardy Boyz after their return to WWE. He has never sported a pair of Lonsdale Slip-ons, contrary to reports.

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