'With the character shown, we really deserved something from the ...

Gareth Southgate praised the character of his England team against Belgium after the Three Lions fought back to secure the draw their performance deserved.

England enjoyed almost two-thirds of the possession against the team ranked fourth in the world on Tuesday night and had 19 shots to their opponent’s seven at Wembley Stadium, despite having more than a dozen players missing from their squad through injury.

Yet despite all of the Three Lions’ positive attacking play, they went into injury-time 2-1 down following Youri Tielemans’ brace, with Ivan Toney also scoring his maiden England goal from the penalty spot in the first half.

It wasn’t until the fifth minute of injury-time that Jude Bellingham finally scored England’s deserved equaliser with one of the final kicks of the game.

Southgate said: "I thought we controlled the game – possession tells us that – and we created a lot of chances so the piece of our game where the quality wasn't there [against Brazil] was much better tonight.

“Yes, we conceded poor goals and were vulnerable in the transition but that's the trade-off we had with the profile of players on the pitch. I thought with the character shown, we really deserved to take something from the game."

Saturday’s 1-0 defeat to Brazil and Tuesday’s 2-2 draw with Belgium were part of England’s preparation for this summer’s UEFA EURO 2024.

The players will now focus on club football before the Three Lions take on Bosnia & Herzegovina at St. James Park on June 3 and then Iceland at Wembley Stadium on June 7.

Southgate has said he is likely to name a long list of players for this summer’s UEFA EURO 2024 before finally settling on his 23-player squad.

And this camp has seen the head coach hand senior debuts to Anthony Gordon, Ezri Konza and Kobbie Mainoo, and give opportunities to several more players due to his squad’s growing injury list.

Southgate said: "We probably had 15 players on a long list missing tonight, so there is a lot to think about and assess.

“Some of the injuries will be back in a short period of time and some in the latter stages of the season, so it'll be unclear until the latter stages of the season."

On the EUROs, he continued: "We are very happy with the squad. We have some exciting players and there's a lot to work with because frankly we don't know who is going to be available and there is a big chunk of the competitive season still to play.

“But these two games have been a great exercise for us. We've tested the players against top opposition and found out a lot of things, good and bad."

The introduction of 18-year-old Mainoo into the senior squad seems to have been a success, with the Manchester United academy graduate following Saturday’s second-half substitute appearance with an impressive start against Belgium.

And Southgate said: “He had a fabulous week with us and everything we've seen with his club, he reproduced in an England shirt.

“He was very calm, received well under pressure and he was strong. We were a little bit more open playing that way but the benefits with the ball were clear to see."