England survive Azteca thriller to set up last eight showdown with Norway

England head coach Thomas Tuchel said in the prelude to the match that the England players had to forget about an England team's last visit to the venue.

Then, Diego Maradona used wiliness and wizardry to undo England during Argentina's 2-1 win in the last eight of the 1986 World Cup.

One goal - using his hand to push the ball past the England goalkeeper into the net - fooled the officials.

The second goal was genius. Maradona waltzed through half a dozen of England's finest footballers to score what was later anointed the Goal of the Century.

Forty years on and against the run of play, Jude Bellingham opened the scoring for England in the 36th minute with a header past the Mexico goalkeeper Raul Rangel.

Less than two minutes later, Bellingham had bagged his and England's second goal - the first player to score twice in the World Cup at the Azteca since Maradona.

Mexico fight for life

But before half time, Julian Quinoneshalved the deficit. He slammed the ball past the England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford after it ricocheted to him just in front of the goal.

Nine minutes into the second half, Jarell Quansah was sent off tor a clumsy challgenge on Jesus Gallardo.

But despite the disadvantage, England increased their lead.

Rangel felled Anthony Gordon in the penalty area. England skipperHarry Kane stepped up and thrashed the ball past him to registger his sixth goal of the tournament.

DRC boss Desabre hails squad's fighting spirit in England defeat

But six minutes later, Kane went from saint to sinner.

He clipped Brian Guttierez in the penalty area and Raul Jimenez swept his penalty kick past Jordan Pickford to make it 3-2 and set up a grandstand finale in front of a packed arena.

England survived the onslaught to reach the last eight for the third consecutive tournament.

“If a team has heart and belief then it's this team," said Tuchel. "They did it on pure will. No words. Iconic match, iconic stadium, we overcame so much adversity.

"We just refused to give in on a level that is absolutely admirable.”

In the last eight, they will play Norway who saw off Brazil 2-1 on Sunday afternoon in East Rutherford.

Erling Haaland scored twice to take the Norwegians into the last eight for the first time.

Neymar, playing in his fourth World Cup, scored Brazil's goal in stoppage time.