Former England defender Gary Neville is relishing a “blockbuster” World Cup quarter-final clash with France after Gareth Southgate’s side easily overcame Senegal in Al Khor.

Goals late in the first half from Jordan Henderson and Harry Kane had England cruising through to the last eight before a second-half effort from Bukayo Saka wrapped up a 3-0 win.

The reward is a return to Al Khor for a crunch clash against France next Saturday as last year’s European Championship runners-up take on the World Cup holders.

Neville, working as a pundit for ITV, said: “Credit to Gareth Southgate – he’s making qualifying for the latter stages of tournaments look really easy.

“These lads have not put a foot wrong really for three or four years now, on and off the pitch.

“They got a rough ride on the way into this tournament, the manager and the players, but they’re delivering again, and what a blockbuster of a game it is on Saturday against France – amazing for those lads, because they deserve this type of game on this stage.”

Kylian Mbappe scored his fourth and fifth goals of the tournament, and set one up, earlier in the day as France beat Poland 3-1.

When Neville was asked how Mbappe could be stopped, he said: “Very difficult. But I think for a couple of weeks in all of our minds we thought it was a collision course between him and Kyle Walker.

“I can’t actually think of another right-back in the world that I’d want to put up against him. That doesn’t mean that Kyle will mark him out of the game. This is a sensational player, the new best player in the world. Devastating. (But) Kyle will get closer to him, he’s got more pace than the Polish players had.”

Neville’s former Manchester United team-mate Roy Keane said: “I think it’s almost impossible to stop him, that’s why he’s the world’s greatest player, but it doesn’t mean to say you can’t win the game of football.

“England have their own attacking players, and you double up, you get bodies around him. England have enough in their locker to cause them problems at the other end.”

Jude Bellingham again played a key role for Southgate’s men after setting up the first goal before launching the move that led to Kane’s strike.

The praise poured in for Bellingham, with England’s white-ball cricket captain Jos Buttler tweeting: “Great performance from @England, what a player @BellinghamJude.”

Ian Wright, working as a pundit for ITV, posted a clip of himself celebrating Henderson’s opener from Bellingham’s assist, alongside the words: “JUDE ‘THE TRUTH’ BELLINGHAM.”

Former England striker Gary Lineker was also impressed by the display from Bellingham.

He tweeted: “Goodness me, @BellinghamJude is unbelievably good. He’s the leader in this team. His parents must be so proud. Love him.