Jude Bellingham clarifies Lionel Messi confrontation in England’s World Cup semi-final loss to Argentina

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The Independent

16 July 2026

Jude Bellingham

insists he was simply “discussing a foul” 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

’s star playmaker Bellingham, despite his last-16 and quarter-final heroics, was largely quiet in the final-four contest.

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.

Asked about the confrontation after the game, Bellingham played down the incident, saying: “We was discussing a foul actually, it was nothing bad. I’m sure everyone will do their thing and make it a big deal but it was nothing big really.

“I thought there was a foul earlier and he said ‘what about the one on me?’ and I said ‘you’re strong enough to take it’, you know what I mean.

“It was a privilege to play against him, it was nothing like that against him. I’m obviously on the losing side which hurts a lot but a privilege to line up against one of the best.”

After the game, Bellingham was

involved in an altercation

with Valentin Barco, slapping the

substitute around the back of the head. It remains to be seen if Bellingham will face any sanction.

face France in the bronze final on Saturday in Miami.

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

carved a route back into the match.

Jude Bellingham and

tangle in the

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 “no regrets.”

"You can discuss this with a million coaches [but] I have to make a decision on the pitch,” he told the BBC.

"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.”

You can pinpoint the moment Messi decided he was going to send Argentina to the World Cup final

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