Jude Bellingham has played down what appeared to be an animated discussion with Lionel Messi during the World Cup semifinal.
Messi set up two late goals as Argentina overturned Anthony Gordon‘s opener to win 2-1 and book a spot in Sunday’s final against Spain.
But a first-half moment between Bellingham and Messi — where both players gesticulated with their arms, and made facial expressions as they parted ways — captured attention.
“We were discussing a foul actually,” Bellingham later said.
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“It was nothing bad. I’m sure everyone will do their thing and make it a big deal [out of it]. But it was nothing big really.
“I thought there was a foul earlier and he said: ‘What about the one on me?’ 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.”
England had topped their group before beating Congo DR, Mexico and Norway in the knockout stages. If they had held onto Gordon’s opener against Argentina, they would have booked a first World Cup final since winning it in 1966.
But Thomas Tuchel made defensive substitutions which have been criticised, and Enzo Fernández and Lautaro Martínez turned the game on its head.
Speaking to BBC Sport, Harry Kane said: “I’m gutted. I’m gutted for the boys, I’m gutted for everyone, the team, the staff, the fans. We played a good game for the large majority of it.
“Once we went 1-0 up we seemed to just try and hold on which at this level is just not enough, so I’m gutted.
“We worked so hard to be here. The lads have given every last bit of running, sweat, blood, tears, whatever it is, so to fall short like today is just gutting.”
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Kane insisted the message from Tuchel and his staff was to keep pushing after Gordon’s goal, but it felt as though England increasingly retreated, inviting the pressure which Argentina turned to their advantage.
“We struggled to get pressure on the ball [after the goal],” he said. “I thought especially in the first half and at the start of the second half we pressed them well, put them under loads of pressure, especially high up the pitch which allowed us to win balls and control the game a little bit better.
“After the goal, whether they were putting more men forward or us not being able to match them man-to-man it was just wave after wave. The lads were putting blocks in but in the end it was not enough.
“The boys were always ready for any moment in the game. When we went ahead the messaging was to go again and get another goal. Once they scored their two goals it was to try and find something but we couldn’t find any momentum to get back in the game.”
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Kane added: “We’ve had a lot of good moments in this tournament. We’ve had a lot of good games, another semifinal. We talk about knocking on the door. We’re close. We just need to find that missing piece.
“These tournaments take it out of you. There’s so much effort, pressure, mentality. We’ve shown a lot of that in the last six, seven weeks we’ve been together. We’re just missing that final piece.”
Press Association contributed to this report.
