Jude Bellingham ‘slaps’ Argentina star in ugly full-time scenes after England heartbreak
England crashed out of the World Cup as Argentina staged a dramatic comeback, with midfielder Jude Bellingham involved in an incident with Valentin Barco after full-time
Jude Bellingham was involved in an altercation with Argentina defender Valentin Barco after the World Cup semi-final.(Image: BBC iPlayer)
Jude Bellingham appeared to slap Argentina defender Valentin Barco after England’s World Cup semi-final defeat to Argentina. The incident sparked a flashpoint as the Three Lions squandered a one-goal lead to the defending champions.
As Argentina celebrated in the middle of the pitch, the Real Madrid star appeared to strike the Strasbourg defender, igniting another flashpoint in an ill-tempered clash. There were ugly scenes in Atlanta as Aston Villa playmaker Morgan Rogers had to be separated from the melee.
Barco, an unused substitute in the semi-final, was seen celebrating with his jubilant teammates when Bellingham appeared to strike the full-back’s head. Although, there is no indication of what caused the midfielder’s anger.
Thomas Tuchel’s side had taken the lead after Anthony Gordon broke the deadlock, however, England regressed, inviting pressure on from Argentina. Enzo Fernandez and Lautaro Martinez were on target to complete the comeback and book their place in Sunday’s final against Spain.
BBC Sport co-commentator and former England captain Alan Shearer said: “I think the best team won. You can’t complain about that, you’ve got to be open and honest about it, their reaction was magnificent.
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TV pictures showed Bellingham appeared to slap the Argentina player(Image: BBC)
“They hit the post a couple of times, England got lucky. But how they didn’t panic, stuck to their gameplan, believed in what they were doing, and they did it. The substitutions worked, you have to admire, respect the way they came back into the game.
“They deserve to be in the final on Sunday, as much as it hurts me to say.”
There were tears from the Argentinians after staging another dramatic after escaping skirmishes with Cape Verde, Egypt and Switzerland en-route to the final. Lionel Scaloni’s side needed extra-time to beat the two African countries and utilised a man advantage to beat the Swiss.
England tried to defend their slender lead with Tuchel ringing the changes and opting to shut out the defending champions. Argentina combatted it with a flurry of attacking introductions and a quickfire double turned the semi-final on its head.
The former Chelsea and Bayern Munich head coach could come in for criticism for opting to go defensively with a quarter of an hour remaining. Wayne Rooney felt England invited the pressure on and they were forced to rue the final 25 minutes.
He said: “When you’re in a fight, you have to stay on top. We go one-nil up, sit back, make changes and go six at the back, if you allow Messi to come on to you and Argentina, you’re asking for trouble.”
It means the Three Lions will battle it out for third place, as they did at the 2018 World Cup following defeat to Croatia in the semi-final, where they will play France.
