Jude Bellingham may have been the hero on the pitch as England narrowly avoided disaster in their Euro 2024 Round of 16 tie against Slovakia, but the midfielder has irked Three Lions’ fans with his comments after the match. The 21-year-old believes some of the criticism that he and his teammates have received in recent days is unfair.
Gareth Southgate’s side were poor from the start in their first knockout game of the tournament and came within a whisker of being eliminated from the tournament after falling behind to a well-taken Ivan Schranz goal in the first half. Bellingham then produced a moment of magic, scoring a wonderful acrobatic effort in stoppage time to prevent his team from crashing out of the tournament.
The Real Madrid star showed his confidence by screaming: “Who else?” towards the crowd during his celebration. Harry Kane then secured the comeback victory with a goal inside the first minute of extra-time.
While his confidence is admirable for such a young player, some supporters have taken issue with his comments in his post-match press conference.
Bellingham Slams England Critics
He claims the criticism felt like a ‘pile-on’
Bellingham was quick to point out that the outside noise does sometimes get to the players. During his press conference, the Los Blancos ace claimed:
“There’s a really intense pressure. The fans expect a lot from us, regardless of what happened in recent tournaments or years and years ago. People talk a lot – and I think you do have to take it personally a little bit. Sometimes it doesn’t go well, and sometimes it feels like there’s a bit of a pile-on.”
Continuing to say his goal and England’s win is a good way to fire back at some of the critics, Bellingham said: “It’s not nice to hear – but you can always use it. After moments like that, it’s always nice to throw something back to some people, I suppose.” View Bellingham’s comments in the video below:
The midfielder is accused of failing to read the room
While England eventually won the game to set up a quarter-final tie against an impressive Switzerland side, supporters were still deeply unhappy with the performance. Southgate made several errors in judgement as the Three Lions limped over the line unconvincingly.
Fans were quick to take to social media to let Bellingham know their feelings about his post-match comments. One X user wrote: “Disgusting sentiment, to be honest. They deserved all of the criticism. They played well for five minutes and think that means their critics should be silenced. What a joke.”
Others felt Bellingham failed to read the room, as one fan stated: “Sorry Jude, but talk about being out of touch. We were outclassed by Slovakia for 119 mins,” while another claimed: “You scored an incredibly flukey couple of goals after one of the worst performances ever. Personally for Bellingham and as a team. To come out like this is just pathetic.”
Finally, one member of the England faithful stated it was wrong for the midfielder to take aim at those who support the team: “Oh dear, it’s the fans’ fault they’re massively underperforming.”