Anthony Gordon: ‘I have always been very intrigued to see who I can become’

It was a lighthearted moment – despite the language used – and Anthony Gordon saw the funny side. But trust the England winger to find a way to use it as fuel. It is what he does, what he has always done, since his childhood in Liverpool. It has helped him to reach the point where he completed a £60.7m transfer to Barcelona from Newcastle at the end of May. And it is driving him before Saturday’s World Cup quarter-final against Norway in Miami.

Most people have seen the clip. There were 26 minutes on the clock at the Azteca Stadium on Sunday; England goalless against Mexico in the last 16. The Mexico manager, Javier Aguirre, who admits that swearing is second nature to him during matches, was in the mood to show off his English. He called out Gordon’s name and when the player turned around, he had a piece of advice. “Fuck you,” Aguirre shouted, before creasing up with laughter. Gordon did the same.

“I remember it,” Gordon says. “It was a bit of fun. I’d just run the full-back down the line so it was a bit of a compliment from him. That’s how I took it, anyway. He was talking to me and Jude throughout the game. There was a lot of tension, so to speak, to me and Jude … I quite liked it.”

Gordon had started brightly but his evening – and that of the team – was about to get better. He was involved in the move for Bellingham’s second goal for 2-0, and it was Gordon who won the critical penalty for Harry Kane to make it 3-1 shortly after England lost Jarell Quansah to a red card. They would win 3-2 – a triumph over adversity, taking in the numerical disadvantage, Mexico’s intimidating record at the Azteca, the home crowd and the high altitude. It is precisely how Gordon likes it.

There has long been the sense that the 25-year-old almost needs something to go wrong for him before he hits his stride. He remembers the personal frustration of Euro 2024 when he made only one appearance – as an 89th-minute substitute against Slovenia, the 0-0 final group match after which beer cups were thrown at Gareth Southgate. He has carried it into this tournament.

“I didn’t enjoy it at the time but I can use that for experience,” he says. “I’m not going to lie … I wanted the No 11 shirt here. But when I got No 18, which is what I had at the Euros, I thought: ‘It’s actually a good thing because I get to put [things] right in that number.’ It was a waste of a summer for me [in 2024].”

The World Cup started badly for Gordon. He barely saw the ball in England’s opening game against Croatia, which they won 4-2, and was poor in the subsequent stalemate with Ghana. He was dropped for game three against Panama when he was an unused substitute, Marcus Rashford – who did get the No 11 shirt – coming in.

Rashford kept his place in the last 32 against the Democratic Republic of the Congo and it was a huge moment for Gordon when he replaced him in the 61st minute, with England trailing 1-0. He came up with two assists for Kane in the 2-1 victory.

“The reason I’ll always do well is because my mentality towards disappointment is very good,” Gordon says. “The first two games didn’t go how I dreamt of starting in a World Cup at all. But when I’m called upon against Congo, I reacted very well.

“I missed a lot of football towards the end of the season [because of injury at Newcastle] and I didn’t think it would feel how it felt in the first two games. I felt rusty. But I used them as a platform for the Congo game. I felt like I’d played it safe. I wasn’t playing to my individual strength. When I got the chance against Congo, I just thought: ‘I’m not doing that. I’m going to do the things that got me here.’”

Gordon goes back to where it all started; when the desire was first stoked. “I was born in Norris Green in Liverpool and then moved to Walton,” he says. “Both are very poor areas, a lot of things going wrong, but there are things going wrong everywhere. It made me who I am. It created a very strong character and fire in me to get out of that area and want better for my family.”

When Gordon had his Barcelona presentation, he answered some questions from the media in Spanish, which was greeted with surprise. It ought not to have been. His thirst for self-improvement is insatiable.

“My drive … that is all we have,” he says. “We play football and we kid ourselves that we play to win. We want to win, of course. But we want to see who we can become. I have always been very intrigued to see who I can become, mentally. I’m from a very poor background, just a normal family, and I have made the journey to this level. I want to keep doing that. I want to learn as many languages, read as many books and see what kind of person I can become.”

Gordon acknowledges the challenges that England faced against Mexico, which continued on the flight back to Kansas City, where they have their base camp. “I missed a night’s sleep because I struggle to sleep on planes,” he says. “We had two hours to the airport, a three-hour flight and then an hour to the hotel so that was a big problem. I don’t want to speak for everyone but I’m guessing everyone felt the same. It was a tough two days [to recover]. But having Monday and Tuesday off has really helped. I feel quite refreshed.”

Gordon’s take on the altitude in Mexico City is revealing. “I felt it as soon as we landed,” he says. “I was sitting in my hotel room and you keep having to take deep breaths, like long inhales. I felt it in the first 20 minutes of the game in recovery sprints. Then, once the 20 minutes was gone, I was completely fine.”

What Gordon wants to emphasise, though, is what it normally comes back to for him – mind over matter. “There was so much talk about the altitude and I had to put that to bed and show it’s not physical, it’s mental,” he says. “I said to the lads as soon as Jarell was sent off that it will be even sweeter when we win. Because I had a feeling. I just knew. I could feel it within the group. And I was right.”

Gordon talks warmly about Thomas Tuchel, describing the England manager as a “very spiritual” person and an “unbelievable motivator” who leans into different sports and all sorts of quotations to reinforce his messages. “Everything is about the higher purpose with him,” Gordon says. “It’s not about individuals. It’s us killing our egos and putting ourselves beneath the end goal.”

It is hard for Gordon to ignore the quirk of how he has joined Barcelona in the same summer that the club have released Rashford back to Manchester United after a season on loan. He says his England rival is a “lovely person, very misunderstood from the outside”. Did Rashford congratulate him on the move? “Yes, as soon as he saw me,” Gordon says. “I’m trying to look for a house and he has helped me with things about the club, which has been really helpful.”

It all comes down to Norway now; the wildness of the emotion against Mexico, especially the elation, must be forgotten. “It’s a massive opportunity,” Gordon says. “And the way you do anything is really important. We need to focus on how we play, how we train. That has got us to where we are. The minute we start looking at the outcome, the trophy, the medals, all the superficial stuff, is when we will fall off track. We need to really focus on the process.”