In an exclusive interview with ITV, Gordon discusses external perceptions of him following his move to Barcelona, his growing confidence with the England national team, and the regret stemming from England's World Cup semi-final defeat. This is the third part of the interview.

Other parts of the interview:

Gordon: Top players have similar talent; only the most determined and motivated succeed in the long run.

Gordon: Outsiders only saw my pace before; at Barcelona, they see my skill and football intelligence.

The Round of 32 World Cup match against DR Congo was a big test for England. Did that game become a turning point for you?

Yes. I came on as a substitute and made a big difference for England. It was an important moment, and I was directly involved in helping the team achieve that. So from that point on, I had more confidence in the following World Cup matches. As I said before, that feeling has continued until now. I really feel that I've established myself in the England squad and I'm more confident.

In your first 17 appearances for England, you were involved in 4 goals; in your last 8 appearances, you've been involved in 7 goals. What's changed?

I think my football intelligence has improved. I'm playing better, and I have more experience. As I said before, I've always been someone who needs time. It took time for me to really feel settled and comfortable. Once I got that feeling, I usually don't look back.

Do you think the current manager will pick you in his strongest starting eleven?

I think so, because I'm confident he trusts me. Since he arrived, I've always given my best. Everything I do is to make England the best team. I think people can see that I'm passionate and fully committed. I'm confident the manager appreciates that because that attitude shows them they can trust me.

Is Bellingham a benchmark for you? Was he a benchmark for you before?

I wouldn't say he's a benchmark for me because he has his own path, and the way he achieved success is different from mine. He was able to achieve success at a very young age, and as I just said, I couldn't do that. I need time to build step by step; he didn't need that. He was a star from the beginning.

So we're on completely different paths. But playing with him feels amazing, and I enjoy being his friend, because I like his mentality and character.

Is there something about his desire to succeed that you can learn from?

His boldness. I think that's also why I feel so comfortable playing with him, because our ideas are very similar. Neither of us believes there are limits to what we can achieve. We want to win, and we want to win beautifully; we want to attack our opponents with full force.

We're not intimidated; we both have strong ambition. So I enjoy playing with him because I know we share the same vision.

How do you feel now, looking back on the World Cup semi-final? With your personality, that match must still bother you from time to time, right?

Yes. For several weeks after that match, I felt awful. In a way, it should have been a dream come true: I scored for England in a World Cup semi-final against Argentina, on the same pitch where Messi played. He's someone I watched and admired since I was a kid. But within 20 minutes, everything completely fell apart, and I experienced the worst moment I could imagine. That match sparked quite a lot of controversy and discussion. But considering what happened in the matches before it, I understand everything we did at that moment.

We now tell ourselves: "If we're going to lose, lose like yesterday did, playing with full commitment."

You can accept a loss like that. Because we actively tried to win, made mistakes, and ultimately lost – that's football. You can't undo mistakes that have already happened; mistakes will happen.

As we discussed before, you just don't want to have regrets. In life, regret is something you really want to avoid. You can live with other things; failure you can live with, defeat you can live with, it's all normal. But losing with regret, or doing something and then regretting it, is something I want to avoid as much as possible.

So going forward, what kind of football does this team need to play to avoid that kind of regret again?

Actively trying to win. Before the World Cup, we said we needed to be proactive in trying to win. Last night against Spain, we were leading 2-1. In the second half, we came back out and continued attacking proactively, wanting to deliver a knockout blow. Of course, we failed to convert a penalty, and they eventually won. That's okay. If I have to lose, I'd rather lose like that. After that match, despite the loss, I was quite proud of the way we played.

How would you sum up Saturday night's match at Wembley?

For me, it was a step forward. I think many people will say: "But you still lost."

The real issue we need to address now is how we play when we lose. I think that match was a big step towards becoming the team we want to be.

Everyone knows what winning feels like. When you win, everything feels natural, everything feels good. But what if you lose? When you lose, what kind of team do you want to be? What character do you want to show? For me, last night's match showed that we've made real progress in that regard.

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