Jude Bellingham has been urged to "keep going" as Thomas Tuchel looks to England's midfield talisman to propel his team through the World Cup.

Bellingham scored England's opener in their 2-0 win over Panama on Saturday, before teeing up Harry Kane to head in the Three Lions' second goal.

At the age of 22 years and 363 days, Bellingham became the youngest England player on record (since 1966) to both score and assist in a World Cup match.

Despite going off in the 71st minute, Bellingham created four chances (including one assist), more than any other player in the match and his joint-most in an England shirt (also four against Latvia in a World Cup qualifier in March 2025).

Bellingham also netted in England's first Group L game against Croatia, and Tuchel now wants the Real Madrid star to keep up his form in the knockout stage.

"He was very positive from the first day in camp. He buys fully into all the things we demand as a team player, and then he brings his own individual quality to decide football games," Tuchel said ahead of England's clash with DR Congo.

"That's what you see in World Cups now, and what you see from other teams and other big players. We have it in him and he's a key player.

"He buys fully into all the things we demand of him as a team player. So well done until now. He needs to keep going.

"After his injury, he's just happy to play again.

"He feels free and he can also put out this kind of intensity in a short period of time now.

"That's why we also take care of him at the moment after 60, 67 minutes because we saw in the last months that he did not produce this kind of intensity for club and country.

"When he does that, he is a key player. He needs to play with this intensity, he loves to play on this kind of stage. We try to support him, help him to be the best version of himself.

"We will also push Morgan [Rogers] to fight for his place. We will need anybody because they are versatile, they can play with each other, and they are a threat to any opponent, so it's good that we have him in this kind of spirits."

England have gone unbeaten in the group stage in consecutive editions of the World Cup (W4 D2) for the first time since 2010 (three in a row).

Should they overcome DR Congo on Wednesday, England will take on Mexico or Ecuador in the last 16.