Truth behind Jude Bellingham ‘slap’ revealed as England star left furious
Jude Bellingham was involved in a furious altercation with Valentin Barco after England’s World Cup defeat to Argentina, with new footage appearing to show the midfielder slap the Chelsea-bound star
Jude Bellingham’s conflict was caught on camera(Image: @as_tv)
New footage from the fallout of last night’s England defeat appears to show that Jude Bellingham seemingly struck Valentin Barco unprovoked. Tensions boiled over at the final whistle when Bellingham confronted his rival as the Chelsea-bound player rejoiced with his teammates.
Argentina fought back to reach the tournament’s showpiece after strikes from Enzo Fernandez and Lautaro Martinez in Atlanta. England had taken the lead through Anthony Gordon but endured a maddening conclusion to the contest as they sat deeper and deeper, ultimately falling to Lionel Scaloni’s side.
Despite remaining an unused substitute, Barco had previously wound up England’s players. The 21 year old charged towards the Three Lions’ squad after Fernandez’s leveller, instead of linking up with his colleagues to celebrate.
Jude Bellingham interrupted his opponent’s celebrations(Image: @as_tv)
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The official was forced to dash over to drag Barco away from England’s team. The former Brighton star avoided any additional sanctions, though.
It seems that incident remained fresh in Bellingham’s memory, however. Fresh footage captures the Real Madrid midfielder observing Argentina’s festivities at the final whistle before Barco links up with a cluster of his teammates, reports the Mirror.
Bellingham had even exchanged handshakes with another player before glancing downwards and then clocking Barco. The 23 year old stormed across and caught Barco in the face before the duo traded a shove and some heated exchanges.
A minor scuffle broke out, with Morgan Rogers and Bellingham both requiring separation. England’s reserve keeper Dean Henderson had also stepped in as a shield while Argentinian players attempted to get to his teammate.
England manager Thomas Tuchel stood by his second-half choice to bring on additional defenders, while also commending his squad’s attitude as they departed the competition. “You can discuss this with a million coaches (but) I have to make a decision on the pitch,” he said.
“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.”
