Rooney compares Bellingham's display to Keane and Gerrard heroics

Wayne Rooney has compared Jude Bellingham's match-winning display for England against Mexico to iconic Champions League performances from Steven Gerrard and Roy Keane. The 23-year-old Real Madrid midfielder scored twice in 98 seconds as Thomas Tuchel's side secured a 3-2 victory at the Azteca, despite playing the final stages with 10 men.

Rooney draws parallels with Liverpool and United legends

Speaking on his BBC podcast, the former England striker said Bellingham's performance reminded him of Gerrard's role in Liverpool's 2005 Champions League final comeback against AC Milan, and Keane's inspired display for Manchester United against Juventus in the 1999 semi-final.

"I said Jude Bellingham was going to have a game when we're going to need him to drag us through," Rooney said. "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 them games. I felt like that was Bellingham's one with them two goals - the timing of the goals, his desire, his work rate, his hunger."

Gerrard and Keane's historic performances

Gerrard scored the first goal as Liverpool came from 3-0 down at half-time to beat AC Milan on penalties in Istanbul. Keane scored against Juventus as United overturned a 3-1 aggregate deficit, despite knowing a yellow card had ruled him out of the final.

Bellingham's all-round contribution

Rooney rated Bellingham's performance a "10 out of 10", citing the "pitfalls" surrounding the game. The England midfielder also made a crucial last-ditch tackle to deny Mexico defender Cesar Montes a goal that would have made it 2-2 on the stroke of half-time.

"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 team-mates 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."

England's World Cup campaign continues

The hard-fought victory set up a quarter-final tie with Norway as England seek their first major trophy since winning the tournament in 1966.