England v Iran player ratings: Bellingham 9, Saka 9; Hosseini 3, Taremi 7

Three Lions storm to 6-2 victory in opening World Cup Group B match

• 

  ENGLAND RATINGS: Jordan Pickford 6: Almost nothing to do in the first half where England had seven goal attempts and scored three, while Iran didn’t have one. Mistake at the start of the second half and then beaten by Taremi smashing the ball into the net. The No 9. . Getty

• 

  Luke Shaw 8: More touches than any player on the field. Spent most of the first 45 in the Iran half and set up Bellingham for the opener. Pushed high and wide, moved the ball quickly. Headed the goal kick to win possession and start the attack for the fourth goal. AFP

• 

  Harry Maguire 8: Appealed for an early penalty having been hugged. Beautiful header under pressure which hit the crossbar on 32. Started move before first goal and set up the second with a header and was a real threat at set-pieces. Taremi ran behind him for Iran’s goal, then he went off. AP

• 

  John Stones 7: Didn’t give the ball away once against a side ranked 20th in the world. Hit accurate long balls. Will have more pressured games but a VAR went against him which led to a 101st minute Iran penalty. AP

• 

  Kieran Trippier 7: Got high and wide on the right in a bright start. Poor pass led to a rare Iran attack, but part of England’s success was using their full backs so well. Took corners and free-kicks. Went down angrily after having his feet stamped on. AP

• 

  Jude Bellingham 9: Put his side ahead after 34 with his first international goal, glancing a header into the far corner. Super goal. Tackled well, got box to box, ran from midfield and linked positions well. Read the second balls well and integral to England’s third. Super ball to set up England’s sixth. EPA

• 

  Declan Rice 7: To quote one fan: “You watch the game, you don't see Declan Rice. You watch Declan Rice, you see the whole game.” Getty

• 

  Bukayo Saka 9: Another who started well, shifting positions as England dominated. Scored the second after 43, a volley past Iran’s replacement goalkeeper into the roof of the net. Always looked to beat his man. Incredible goal made it four after he bedazzled the Iran defence on 62. AP

• 

  Mason Mount 7: Weak shot into the side netting on 30. Fouled more than any player. Very comfortable. AP

• 

  Raheem Sterling 7: Skilful and scored the third after 45, a volley on the outside of his boot. Swept Saka into action before the fourth goal, before being floored by a challenge in the same move. Getty

• 

  Harry Kane 8: England’s captain whipped a cross in for Sterling to score the third. Went over on his ankle after 49. A flick set up a 56th minute attack. The top scorer didn’t score as his team got six, but he played well. Reuters

• 

  SUBS: Eric Dier (On for Maguire 70’) 7: Had a busy workout marking Taremi in the 45,334 crowd in a stadium which holds 68,000. The subs worked for England. Conceding two wasn’t in the plan, but then nor was scoring six. Reuters

• 

  Marcus Rashford (On for Saka 70’) 7: His first England appearance since the Euro final and scored his first goal in a major tournament with his first three touches. Confident for club this season… and now his country. Getty

• 

  Jack Grealish (On for Sterling 70’) 7: Helped win the ball back high up the pitch as England were relentless to the end. Gifted a ball to finish England’s sixth on 89 minutes. Fouled, as ever. Reuters

• 

  Phil Foden (On for Mount 70’) 7: Busy around the Iran area as England pushed for a sixth goal. AP

• 

  Callum Wilson (On for Kane 75’) 7: His first international appearance since 2019. Played in Grealish for England’s sixth. PA

• 

  IRAN RATINGS: Ali Beiranvand 6: Left dazed with face injury after clashing heads with teammate Hosseini. Ludicrously allowed to carry on after lengthy treatment before eventually being carried off pitch. AFP

• 

  Sadegh Moharrami 5: England tore down Moharrami’s right flank as Shaw provided the cross for Bellingham’s opening goal. A difficult night for Iran’s defence. AP

• 

  Milad Mohammadi 5: Found it a struggle dealing with the livewire Saka who was aiming to go past players very time he got possession. Found Jahanbakhsh with cross just before break but teammate couldn’t keep volley down. PA

• 

  Roozbeh Cheshmi 4: Should have given away penalty in opening few minutes after pulling down Maguire in box but referee/VAR somehow not interested. Caught in no man’s land ahead of third goal. AFP

• 

  Majid Hosseini 3: Helpless against the movement of England’s attacking players and his big contribution to first half was smashing heads with own goalkeeper resulting in his early exit. Allowed Saka the freedom to ease inside on to his left foot and put England 4-0 up, skinned by Rashford for fifth. AFP

• 

  Ali Karimi 4: Slow to react when Bellingham headed England into the lead and generally spent the game chasing after English shadows. AFP

• 

  Morteza Pouraliganji 4: Part of Iran’s five-man defence that attempted to sit deep from start and keep out England’s attackers … a plan that went out the window in disastrous first half. Booked early in second half for poor tackle from behind on Kane. AP

• 

  Ahmad Nourollahi 4: Midfielder, who plies his trade in the UAE with Shabab Al Ahli, but was over-run in midfield against likes of Bellingham and Rice. Should have been booked for stamping on foot of Trippier just after break. Getty

• 

  Ehsan Hajsafi 3: Tried to offer some support for the isolated Taremi up front but Iran just couldn’t regularly string passes together or gain any foothold in match. Getty

• 

  Alireza Jahanbakhsh 4: Feyenoord’s former Brighton midfielder picked up game’s first yellow card for clumsy late challenge on Shaw. Volleyed Iran’s first real opportunity way over bar in lengthy first-half stoppage time. Getty

• 

  Mehdi Taremi 7: Scorer for Porto in Champions League a few weeks ago, but little chance of repeating that here until, from nowhere, he smashed home off the bar in the 65th minute to pull it back to 4-1. Blasted another chance high and wide. Confident finish from spot with pretty much last kick of game. Getty

• 

  SUBS: Hossein Hosseini (On for Beiranvand 19’) 5: Early introduction but found himself picking ball out of net three times before break – none of them his fault to be fair. Similarly let down by his porous defence after half-time. AFP

• 

  Saeid Ezatolahi (On for Ali 46’) 5: One of three changes at break but couldn’t help turnaround Iran’s fortunes. Getty

• 

  Hossein Kanaanizadegan (On for Cheshmai 46’) 5: Al Ahli defender failed to offer much more protection from rampant England attacks than man he replaced. Getty

• 

  Ali Gholizadeh (On for Jahanbakhsh 46’) 6: Sloppy ball soon after coming on set England off on counter attack. Nice pass to set up Taremi goal, though. Reuters

• 

  Mahdi Torabi (On for Mohammadi 63’) 5: Brought to try and offer some attacking width, to little affect. Sardar Azmoun (On for Nourollahi 77’) N/A. Had shot turned on to crossbar by Pickford deep in injury time. AP

England made a flying start to their World Cup campaign as they trounced Iran 6-2 in Doha with Bukayo Saka scoring twice.

Iran's night was made more difficult with the early loss of goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand after a clash of heads with teammate Majid Hosseini.

The lengthy hold-up while Beiranvand received treatment seemed to suck all of the rhythm out of the game until Harry Maguire hit the bar with a header.

But midfielder Jude Bellingham did put England ahead with a brilliant header from Luke Shaw's cross 10 minutes before the break.

And the game was as good as over when Gareth Southgate's side scored twice before half-time through Arsenal attacker Saka and then Raheem Sterling.

Saka grabbed his second just after the hour mark only for Mehdi Taremi to slam home a fine goal to give Iran's supporters something to cheer about three minutes later.

The four-goal lead was soon restored when substitute Marcus Rashford scored with his first touches of the ball. To seal a dominant display for England, Jack Grealish slotted home from close range after a good run and unselfish pull back by fellow substitute Callum Wilson.

Iran pulled another back in injury time when Taremi slotted home his second from the penalty spot but it took nothing away from an impressive start to their Group B campaign from England. Wales take on the United States in the group's later game.

In the gallery above you can see the player ratings from Monday's match. To move on to the next photo, click on the arrows or swipe if using a mobile device.