Serbia vs England make unwanted Euro history and produce stat that’ll likely never be matched

England’s win over Serbia produced a stat that may never be matched again.

England’s win over Serbia made unwanted Euro history and churned out a stat that may never be matched.

The Three Lions got off to a winning start in Euro 2024 in Gelsenkirchen, with Jude Bellingham scoring the only goal of the game 13 minutes in.

England are now top of Group C after Denmark and Slovenia drew 1-1 in their opening fixture.

Remarkably they became the first side to record a clean sheet in a tournament which has been raining goals all over the show.

But after a strong first half performance, England showed grit and resilience to battle against physical Serbia side who came out a different side in the second half.

Nevertheless the game was a cagey affair and one stat summed up the kind of contest it was.

As per ITV, there were a combined total of 11 shots between England and Serbia at the Veltins Arena

And the figure is the lowest in a game at a European Championship tournament since stats started to be recorded in 1980.

England have five shots, three of which were on target – one being Bellingham’s goal.

Serbia had one more with six but Jordan Pickford only had to make the one save to tip over a Dusan Vlahovic strike from distance.

But while it wasn’t a vintage England display, Gareth Southgate liked what he saw from his side under pressure.

Speaking post-match, he said: “They are a strong team. We had to suffer a bit which I think is really good for us.

“I think to defend the box the way we did was really good for us.

“I was really pleased with a lot of the play. Second half we didn’t keep it as well as I would have liked but to get the win is very important.”