Jude Bellingham had a FIFA World Cup semifinal match against Argentina that fans will remember for a long time — just not for what he did during the game and not at all in a positive way.
While the England midfielder has been arguably one of the Three Lions’ best players over the past month, his tournament ended in infamy on Wednesday following the 2-1 loss.
After the final whistle, Bellingham was seen slapping Valentin Barco on the back of the head as the Argentina substitute was celebrating with teammates.
The incident led to some more shoving between the two before teammates from both sides stepped in to separate the players.
“He should be ashamed,” one user wrote on X. “Don’t be a poor loser.”
“There was really no need for that from him. Poor sportsmanship,” another replied.
“Bellingham picks a little guy to go and hit. What a coward he is,” a third user posted.
Why did Bellingham slap Barco?
While it’s unclear if we’ll ever find out the full explanation, several social media sleuths have weighed in with some video evidence that perhaps Barco may have had it coming.
After Argentina midfielder Enzo Fernández scored the equalizing goal in the 85th minute in Atlanta, Barco appeared to rub salt in the wounds of English players.
As his teammates celebrated at the corner flag with Enzo, Barco instead left the bench area and sprinted towards the English players to celebrate.
He was seen jumping and waving his arms at the dejected English players and even received a shove as he ran by one near the edge of the box.
What happened between Bellingham and Messi?
Bellingham also was involved in an on-field argument with Lionel Messi – which fans think woke up the Argentine legend.
During a break in play in the second half, Bellingham was seen approaching Messi and appearing to argue with him while gesturing to “think.”
Messi appeared to verbally defend himself in the exchange before Bellingham walked away, leading to a gesture that likely will go down in Internet meme history.
Messi stared down Bellingham while nodding as if to say “OK, let’s go.”
The 39-year-old attacker then went to work in the final quarter of the game, assisting on both his team’s goals to secure the comeback victory and earn a place in Sunday’s final against Spain.
As for why Bellingham may have been taking exception with Messi, there had been several incidents during the match.
In one incident, Messi appeared to foul Bellingham by taking him down by the neck. The entire match had been an ill-tempered affair, with 26 fouls called in total. In comparison, there were just nine fouls called in the Spain-France semifinal matchup.