Jude Bellingham ‘slap’ truth as new footage shows England star in furious altercation
England were knocked out of the World Cup by Argentina and full-time saw tempers flare when Jude Bellingham took issue with Valentin Barco in an aggressive manner
New footage shows that Jude Bellingham appeared to slap Valentin Barco without provocation following England’s defeat to Argentina at the World Cup. However, it has emerged that Barco had antagonised England players earlier in the match.
Tempers flared at full-time when Bellingham took issue with his opponent as the Chelsea-bound star celebrated with his team-mates. Argentina came from behind to progress to the tournament’s final after goals from Enzo Fernandez and Lautaro Martinez in Atlanta.
England had led through Anthony Gordon but endured a frustrating end to the match as they dropped deeper and deeper, eventually succumbing to Lionel Scaloni’s team. Despite being an unused substitute, Barco had earlier irked England’s stars. The 21-year-old rushed towards the Three Lions’ players following Fernandez’s equaliser, rather than joining his team-mates to celebrate.
Jude Bellingham’s conflict was caught on camera(Image: @as_tv)
The referee was required to rush over to get Barco away from England’s team. The former Brighton ace escaped any further punishment, however.
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It appears that the moment stuck in Bellingham’s mind, though it’s not clear if his angry reaction at full-time was in response to the earlier incident. New footage has now come out showing the Real Madrid midfielder watching Argentina’s celebrations at full-time before Barco joins a group of his team-mates.
Bellingham had even shaken hands with another player before looking to the ground and then spotting Barco. The 23-year-old marched over and clipped Barco in the face before the pair exchanged a push and some fierce words.
A small melee ensued, with Morgan Rogers and Bellingham both needing to be pulled away. England’s back-up goalkeeper Dean Henderson had also acted as a barrier as Argentinian players tried to reach his team-mate.
England boss Thomas Tuchel defended his second-half decision to introduce more defenders, and also praised his team’s mentality as they exited the tournament. “You can discuss this with a million coaches (but) I have to make a decision on the pitch,” he said.
Bellingham interrupted his opponent’s celebrations(Image: @as_tv)
“I analysed the match and I did it a certain way so that’s my responsibility. In the moment, no regrets. The team gave everything and we were very, very close. We deserved to be up 1-0.
“We played one of our better matches, maybe our best match in the circumstances. The team was top, we couldn’t get over the line but no regrets.
“I think we saw the mentality throughout the match and the strong group. We played the matches how they were, we played against strong teams in the group, travelled a lot of miles, played at altitude, we played with 10 men, we played in the heat and we overcame every obstacle.
“We were very close today. It’s not the moment to analyse the full tournament, we just went out because we lost a crucial match.”
