Brighton defender Lewis Dunk impressed on his return to international action against Scotland Friday night in a 3-1 victory at Hampden Park.
Dunk, 31, looked solid at the defence with Crystal Palace’s Marc Guehi and, after the interval, Harry Maguire. The performance impressed the commentators, but it was one that Brighton supporters had become accustomed to over the years.
The Seagulls skipper dominated in the air, read the game effectively, and was always at ease and thinking ahead on the ball. Many have long called for his comeback and the addition of another hat to his one from his five years in the international wilderness. Conor Coady, Michael Keane, Fikayo Tomori, Tyrone Mings, James Tarkowski, and Maguire have all been chosen ahead of him throughout this time.
Real Madrid midfielder Jude Bellingham was outstanding for the Three Lions against a strong Scottish squad, with goals from Phil Foden, Bellingham, and Harry Kane sealing the victory.
“Well, we’ve been playing pretty well,” England manager Gareth Southgate remarked following the victory. I know the ceiling caved in over the weekend because the performance wasn’t what people wanted, but we’ve had a week where we’ve taken a huge step towards qualifying, and I think we’ve demonstrated a pretty nice performance tonight, so we’ll keep building.
“We know we want to keep getting better and better, we’ve seen some new players come into the side – Marc Guehi, Lewis Dunk have done really well, [Eberechi] Eze coming on tonight – so there’s a lot of positives for us.”
Here’s how Dunk and his teammates were ranked by BBC readers…
