What Gareth Southgate told Newcastle's Anthony Gordon after 'best day of his life'

ANTHONY Gordon is raring to go for England’s friendly against Belgium as the Newcastle forward looks to build on his impressive senior international debut.

The 23-year-old was a rare bright spark for England as they lost 1-0 to Brazil on Saturday night in the first of two final friendlies before Gareth Southgate names his squad for Euro 2024.

Gordon, who was named player of the tournament as England won the Under-21 European Championship last year, impressed off the left at Wembley – where Endrick’s late goal secured a narrow victory for the away side.

Southgate’s squad has been ravaged with injury before and during the current camp and, with the domestic campaign ramping up, several players who started against Brazil are expected to be rotated for the visit of Belgium on Tuesday night.

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Gordon, though, is keen to don the England shirt once more and stake another claim for a spot on the plane to Germany.

“Not just Tuesday, any other day,” he replied with a smile when asked if he wanted to stay in the side to face Belgium.

“I want to play as many games for England as I possibly can. I’m quite hard on myself so I wanted to score and win. If I think like that, I can’t do myself any harm.

“I know I played well but I hope for more. It was not quite how I envisaged it. But it’s still an amazing day for me, I relished every minute of it. I’ve got a taste now so I want more.”

Southgate embraced Gordon when he was replaced by Marcus Rashford in the second half, but the former Everton player revealed it did not come with a promise of a place in his Euros squad.

Asked if the England manager had told him he was on the plane, Gordon said: “No! Hopefully he says that in a couple of months.

“He was saying, ‘fantastic’. He was really pleased for me. I think he was happy with my performance which is always a good thing.

“It was chaotic. When I came off (against Chelsea on March 11), I didn’t know what was going to happen.

“Everything was up in the air. But I was really fortunate to miss out on any injury and I got to live the best day of my life.”