Saka shares Bellingham's words before decisive penalty against France in World Cup triumph.

Bukayo Saka, the talented Arsenal forward, had an exceptional performance in England's recent match against France. He scored a hat-trick, which is an impressive feat for any player. But what made it even more special was the words of encouragement that he received from teammate Jude Bellingham before his third goal.

Saka had been an unused substitute in England's previous match against Argentina, but he was back in the starting lineup for the bronze final against France. And he certainly made the most of his opportunity, delivering a timely reminder of his skills with two goals in the first half. However, England then faced a potential collapse as France fought back with two goals from Kylian Mbappe and one from Bradley Barcola, bringing the score to a nerve-wracking 4-3 with 30 minutes left to play.

Les Bleus had multiple chances to equalize, but England's defense held strong. And in the final minutes, England was awarded a penalty after Djed Spence was brought down by Malo Gusto. As the team prepared for the penalty kick, Bellingham, who had come on as a substitute in the second half, quickly grabbed the ball.

It seemed like he might take the penalty himself, but he instead passed it to Saka, who completed his hat-trick with a confident strike. In the end, England secured an incredible 6-4 victory, with Real Madrid star Mbappe adding a solo goal in added time. After the match, Saka shared that Bellingham had been fully supportive and had no intention of taking the penalty himself.

"No, Jude was never taking it," he said in an interview with BBC Sport. "He was the first one to say go and get your hat-trick, so none of them came to distract me. I was always going to take it." Reflecting on the rollercoaster of a game, Saka commented, "It was a crazy, crazy game.

We're both still quite disappointed to not be in the final but it was about finishing strong and for us giving the country the best finish in the World Cup in 60 years, so we're happy with the final result." He acknowledged that both teams had their moments, with England dominating the first half and France coming back strong in the second. Prior to the third-place play-off, Saka had only started two games due to an Achilles injury from the end of the club season. But he showed no signs of being hindered by it and expressed a desire to have played more minutes in the tournament.

"Of course I would love to have played more but it's too late to talk about that," he said. "I try to do my talking on the pitch and it's done now, move on." Saka also showed his support for his manager, Thomas Tuchel, who has faced criticism for his tactics in England's loss to Argentina. "I think that's just part of the game," Saka said of the noise surrounding Tuchel.

"When you win there's going to be noise, it's how you react to it, how you use it as fuel and today we finished strong and that's all we could really do and we did that." He added that the team had grown and improved throughout the tournament and was disappointed to have fallen short in the semi-final but was determined to focus on the future.