Ed Sheeran is in high spirits as he joins England fans for the Three Lions’ knockout match against Slovakia – but things get off to a lacklustre start as they fall behind

Ed Sheeran was one of the thousands of England fans present at the Three Lions’ Euro 2024 last 16 against Slovakia on Sunday.

The singer, who was earlier spotted in the stands during the 1-1 draw against Denmark, was in good spirits as he joined fans for the crucial knockout match.

With millions of people at home cheering on England, Ed joined the team’s nearest and dearest in Gelsenkirchen to watch the thrilling match, after a lacklustre performance from the team so far.

And it started poorly for England, as the country fell 1-0 behind Slovakia after just 25 minutes, thanks to a goal from Ivan Schranz.

There were early clashes and a slew of yellow cards at the Arena AufSchalke as manager Gareth Southgate made one change to his starting XI following last Tuesday’s disappointing 0-0 draw with Slovenia.

He replaced Chelsea midfielder Conor Gallagher with Manchester United’s Kobbie Mainoo as England chase a place in the quarter-finals of the European Championship in Germany.

Supporters flocked to the German city today, calling on Southgate’s team to play without fear and silence critics with a resounding victory. Back home in England, the bars and fan parks are buzzing with excitement and expats are watching from holiday resorts like Magaluf in Spain.

Annie Kilner and Georgina Irwin were among the first WAGs to arrive at the Arena AufSchalke in Dusseldorf this afternoon as England take on Slovakia in a last-16 knockout match.

Kyle Walker and Aaron Ramsdale’s wives were always the ‘yummy mummies’ as they entered the stadium with their babies in baby carriers as the babies got a taste of the ‘beautiful game’.

Model Georgina and Aaron welcomed Ronnie Ramsdale into the world last November, while Annie and Kyle welcomed their fourth child Rezon just two months ago.

When the mothers arrived at the stadium for the Three Lions v Slovakia match, they were accompanied by the England WAG of the tournament, who despite a lackluster performance, attracted a lot of attention from the fans.

Bukayo Saka’s 23-year-old girlfriend Tolami Benson has been described as a ‘low-key’ WAG who doesn’t even follow her boyfriend on social media – but since the tournament began the glamorous PR executive has stolen the show among fans.

Benson has been in a relationship with the Arsenal star, who is seen as crucial to England’s success at this summer’s tournament, for almost four years, but the pair are rarely seen together.

In England’s opening match against Serbia, the glamorous Benson, who used to work on the shop floor at Harrods and has a degree from Birmingham City University, went straight against WAG tradition by not wearing an England shirt to support her husband.

The 23-year-old, who started a new job as a Senior Planning Executive for Zenith in May, instead opted for a more cryptic nod to her football superstardom: She wore a custom leather biker jacket emblazoned with ’87’ .

This was Saka’s squad number for his breakthrough 2018/2019 season in the Arsenal squad.

But when she arrived at tonight’s crucial match, Benson broke her cool-as-a-cucumber streak and donned a shirt bearing Saka’s number seven – in a loud and proud act of support for her partner.

While there are plenty of references to Arsenal on Benson’s social media accounts, including friendships with fellow Premier League WAGS including Ben White’s wife Milly and Leandro Trossard’s wife Laura, there has been no sign of the 22-year-old winger.

On Threads, Benson shares more down-to-earth photos, including shots of her view of the platform during her morning commute to central London.

For Annie Kilner, her show of support for Kyle Walker is perhaps the most important of all the WAGs, after the 32-year-old model has had a tough few months.

She discovered in December of last year, while pregnant with her and Kyle’s fourth child, that her athletic husband had fathered a second child with Lauryn Goodman. Walker moved out of their home a few weeks later, in January.

Instagram influencer Lauryn is mother to Kyle’s son Kairo, four, and daughter, known to family and friends as KK, who is 10 months old.

Lauryn became pregnant with Kairo when Kyle was on a break from childhood sweetheart Annie in 2019, but he was taken back and they married in 2021.

MailOnline previously revealed that Annie decided not to fly to the European Championships as part of the official WAGs group.

Instead, she has rented a private jet, which she uses to fly in and out of Germany for every England match with the four children she shares with Kyle.

The plane will cost Annie around £35,000 each return journey and she also plans to take a friend along to help with the youngsters: baby Rezon and sons Roman, 11, Riaan, seven, and Reign, five.

A source told the Mail: ‘Things have gotten really bad between Annie and Kyle, and she’s only going to the kids’ European Championships. If there were no children involved, she wouldn’t go at all.

‘She doesn’t want to be part of the WAGs group because she feels like she doesn’t have a real relationship with Kyle and she doesn’t want to pretend that she does.

“She told him what she feels and is not ready to play happy family with him in Germany.”

Although Kilner reportedly wants to keep her distance from the ‘WAGs group’, she was pleased to see other partners of England players attending the match, including reality TV star and partner of Jarrod Bowen, Dani Dyer.

Also spotted in the stands were John Stones’ partner Olivia Naylor (who hopped aboard Annie’s private jet this week) and Conor Gallagher’s partner Aine May Kennedy.

England beat Serbia 1-0 in Gelsenkirchen in the opening Group C match, thanks to a goal from Real Madrid’s Jude Bellingham. They then drew 1-1 with Denmark and Slovenia.

Should Southgate’s side win today’s match, which starts at 5pm, they would face Switzerland in the quarter-finals at the same time next Saturday.

Switzerland made progress yesterday by triumphing 2-0 over reigning champions Italy, who previously defeated England on penalties in the Euro 2020 final at Wembley.

Today’s match in Gelsenkirchen comes one day less than eighteen years since England were eliminated from the 2006 World Cup at the same Arena AufSchalke, where England were defeated on penalties in the quarter-final against Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal.