Jude Bellingham dismissed his verbal exchange with Lionel Messi in England’s World Cup semi-final defeat to Argentina as ‘nothing bad’.
England’s wait to reach a first World Cup final since 1966 will go on until at least 2030 after Thomas Tuchel’s Three Lions blew a 1-0 lead late on to lose 2-1 to Messi-inspired Argentina in Atlanta.
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It was an expectedly ill-tempered contest with no love lost between the two great rivals, meeting for the first time in over 20 years.
And during the first half, things appeared to get heated between the countries’ two No10s, Bellingham and Messi.
But Bellingham downplayed the seemingly hostile nature of their conversation.
No big deal
The England star, who has scored six goals at the tournament, explained: “We were discussing a foul actually, but it was nothing bad at all.
“I’m sure everyone will do their thing and make it a big deal, but no, it was nothing big really.
“I thought it was a foul earlier and he said, ‘What about the one on me?’, and I was just saying, ‘You’re strong enough to take them’.
“It’s a privilege to play against him; it was nothing like that against him.
“Obviously, I’m on the losing side – it hurts a lot, but it’s a privilege to play against one of the best.”
England must now pick themselves up for the game no player wants to end up in at a World Cup: the third place play-off.
The Three Lions will face fellow losing semi-finalists France in Miami on Saturday.
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Argentina, meanwhile, advance to Sunday’s final in New York as they look to become the first team to retain the World Cup since Brazil in 1962.
And we could be in for a treat as the world champions face the European champions, Spain.
Argentina might just have got themselves into trouble before that crunch clash, however.
Argentina’s controversial celebration
Celebrating their victory over England, players displayed a banner reading ‘Las Malvinas son argentinas’ (‘The Falklands are Argentine’).
The UK and Argentina went to war over the Falkland Islands in 1982 after Argentina invaded and occupied the British Overseas Territory.
Some 649 Argentine and 255 British military personnel, along with three Falkland Islanders, were killed during the 74-day conflict, which ended with Argentina’s surrender.
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The islands remain the subject of a sovereignty dispute between the two nations – a dispute which Argentina’s vice president Victoria Villarruel waded into before and after the game.
On Tuesday, Villarruel, whose father fought in the war, took to X to post: “Tomorrow we play against the usurping pirates. This isn’t just another match. I’m not going to be politically correct or cold-hearted; against the English, it’s always something more.
“It’s the Malvinas, it’s Diego, it’s Leo’s last one, and it’s putting the brakes on the invaders.
“Go Argentina! Because until our last breath, we’re going to claim what’s ours!”
Reposting a photo of the Argentina players with their banner on X following the match, Villarruel wrote: “The Falklands are Argentine! They banned bringing them [banners] to the stadium and forgot that we carry them in our blood and our hearts.”
The list of prohibited items in FIFA’s 2026 World Cup Stadium Code of Conduct includes: “any materials, including but not limited to banners, flags, fliers, apparel and other paraphernalia, that are of a
political, offensive and/or discriminatory nature, containing wording, symbols or any other attributes aimed at discrimination of any kind
against a country, private person or group on account of race, skin colour, ethnicity, national or social origin, gender identity and expression, disability, language, religion, political opinion or any other opinion, birth, wealth or any other status, sexual orientation or on any other grounds”.
UK business secretary Peter Kyle has called on FIFA to investigate the incident.
“I certainly think that FIFA should be looking into this. Absolutely, they should,” he told Sky News.
