Bellingham’s 13th minute bullet header was loaded with raw aggression and control. It was the only goal of the game in which Kane hardly touched the ball.
Also, England’s edgy second half was a stark contrast to the enjoyment and expression of the first.
1.Hey Jude
It was Bellingham’s game, and it may yet be his tournament. The question is about the make-up of the team around him.
This win wasn’t to the level of Germany’s 5-1 Munich mauling of Scotland and manager Gareth Southgate has a bit to think about.
Bellingham is key to the team. There are doubts over some others though.
In the first half, in particular, when he was gliding across the Gelsenkirchen grass, the Serbian players barely got near him.
Gelsenkirchen was the place where Wayne Rooney stamped, Cristiano Ronaldo winked, and England lost another penalty shootout at the 2006 World Cup.
His thumping early header set up an opening-night victory over Serbia just as his thumping early header had set up a thrashing of Iran in the first match of England’s World Cup campaign in Qatar.
It took Bellingham to “take a sad song and make it better”, as the England supporters sang with their mass rendition of the Beatles classic “Hey Jude” after what can be considered a classic centre-forward’s goal.
But then Bellingham can be a centre-forward, he can be a No 10, he can play on the left, he can play deep.
It came as no surprise that he won the Player of the Match prize. He could easily have gotten it after 15 minutes.
2. Brilliant Bellingham
Champions League winner. La Liga winner. World Cup goal scorer. European Championship goal scorer. And he doesn’t turn 21 for another two weeks.
Having now scored at a World Cup and a European Championship, Bellingham is only the second man to do this before the age of 21.
Michael Owen, another England star who also played for Real Madrid, achieved the same with his goals at the 1998 World Cup in France and Euro 2000.
Bellingham now has 30 caps for his country and his goal tally has moved to four.
The former Birmingham City and Borussia Dortmund player shows astonishing maturity for one so young.
Bolstered by a season in which he took Spain by storm – Bellingham won the La Liga Player of the Season award – England are the beneficiaries as they look to end a sequence of falling short at major tournaments.
3. The two sides of England
It wasn’t pretty but it was enough. In the first half, they were in full flow and showed why they are the favourites.
But they lost the control and confidence after the break and the lead felt fragile for a period.
Bellingham was the best of England but even he faded.
The big worry would be Phil Foden on the left, who was poor and a shadow of the Premier League’s Player of the Year. The Trent Alexander-Arnold midfield experiment did not work either.
The central defence, England’s biggest worry coming into the tournament, saw Crystal Palace defender Marc Guehi doing everything required as John Stones’ new partner.
With Denmark held 1-1 by Slovenia earlier, England top Group C, with a two point cushion before Thursday’s match with the Danes in Frankfurt.
4. Quiet night for Kane, Foden
While Bellingham was relishing the freedom the number 10 role gives him – the licence to operate influentially all over the pitch – Kane was a sorry sight.
He touched the ball just twice during the first half, but came close to adding a second for England in the final 45 when he saw a header from substitute Jarrod Bowen’s cross superbly touched on to the bar by Serbian keeper Predrag Rajkovic.
But we can expect Kane to stamp his mark in the tournament at some point.
Foden shone when Manchester City claimed a fourth successive Premier League title but he still struggles to fit into the England line-up.
His natural position is working centrally from where he orchestrated stellar moves in Pep Guardiola’s side, but in England’s current system, that job has gone to Bellingham.
There was no lack of enterprise against Serbia but the statistics doesn’t make his left-flank partnership with Kieran Trippier a natural fit.
He had 64 touches but only one in the opponent’s penalty area, and created one low-key chance.
We shall see how Southgate effectively accommodates the English footballer of the year against Denmark.
5. Dream Euros return
To even be at Euro 2024 is a great feat for Christian Eriksen but to score Denmark’s opening goal of the tournament 1,100 days after suffering a cardiac arrest is simply amazing.
The 32-year-old, now playing for Manchester United, had collapsed on the pitch against Finland in Denmark’s opening match of Euro 2020 (which was played in the summer of 2021 due to the pandemic).
He was later fitted with an Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator, meaning he could no longer play in the Serie A with former club Inter Milan.
His journey back to the top was hard but there was Eriksen yesterday, celebrating with fans after once again playing at the Euros, and inspiring his side in the 1-1 draw with Slovenia.
As Eriksen ran, arms outstretched towards Denmark fans, those watching him must have felt complete elation for the man who had to overcome a terrifying near-fatal ordeal to return to this stage.