Jude Bellingham insists he was simply \u201cdiscussing a foul\u201d with Lionel Messi as a clip of their heated confrontation in the World Cup semi-final went viral on social media. <\/p>\n
Argentina captain Messi set up both late goals as the defending champions broke English hearts with a 2-1 victory in Atlanta while England\u2019s star playmaker Bellingham, despite his last-16 and quarter-final heroics, was largely quiet in the final-four contest. <\/p>\n
Yet Real Madrid midfielder Bellingham, who can speak fluent Spanish, was embroiled in a conversation with Messi in the first half during a brief pause in play, resulting in Messi making a pointed facial expression and Bellingham laughing as he walked away. <\/p>\n
Asked about the confrontation after the game, Bellingham played down the incident, saying: \u201cWe was discussing a foul actually, it was nothing bad. I\u2019m sure everyone will do their thing and make it a big deal but it was nothing big really. <\/p>\n
\u201cI thought there was a foul earlier and he said \u2018what about the one on me?\u2019 and I said \u2018you\u2019re strong enough to take it\u2019, you know what I mean. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a privilege to play against him, it was nothing like that against him. I\u2019m obviously on the losing side, which hurts a lot, but a privilege to line up against one of the best.\u201d<\/p>\n
After the game, Bellingham was involved in an altercation with Valentin Barco, slapping the Argentina substitute around the back of the head. It remains to be seen if Bellingham will face any sanction. England face France in the bronze final on Saturday in Miami. <\/p>\n
England took the lead in the 55th minute through Anthony Gordon, yet the Three Lions then dropped very deep, switched to a back-five, and ceded space in the midfield as Argentina carved a route back into the match. <\/p>\n
Jude Bellingham and Lionel Messi tangle in the World Cup semi-final (Reuters)England boss Thomas Tuchel has received immense criticism for his tactical plan and substitutions in the second half, yet insisted he had \u201cno regrets.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cYou can discuss this with a million coaches [but] I have to make a decision on the pitch,\u201d he told the BBC.<\/p>\n
\u201cI analysed the match, and I did it a certain way, so that\u2019s my responsibility. In the moment, no regrets. The team gave everything, and we were very, very close. We deserved to be up 1-0.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe played one of our better matches, maybe our best match in the circumstances. The team was top; we couldn\u2019t get over the line, but no regrets.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Jude Bellingham insists he was simply \u201cdiscussing a foul\u201d with Lionel Messi as a clip of their heated confrontation in the World Cup semi-final went viral on social media. Argentina captain Messi set up both late goals as the defending champions broke English hearts with a 2-1 victory in Atlanta while England\u2019s star playmaker Bellingham, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5957,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[173],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n