{"id":1092088,"date":"2026-07-16T04:06:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T04:06:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1092088\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T04:06:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T04:06:20","slug":"jude-bellingham-risks-retrospective-ban-for-unseen-slap-of-argentina-player","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1092088\/","title":{"rendered":"Jude Bellingham risks retrospective ban for unseen slap of Argentina player"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jude Bellingham could land himself in hot water after appearing to slap Valentin Barco following England’s 2-1 defeat to Argentina.<\/p>\n

The Three Lions’ hopes of World Cup glory came to a crushing end in the semi-finals on Wednesday, as holders Argentina staged a dramatic comeback in the closing stages<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Jude<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Bellingham could be seen appearing to slap Barco on the back of his head\"Jude<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

He then confronted the Strasbourg defender amid Argentina’s wild post-match celebrationsCredit: BBC<\/p>\n

And Bellingham<\/a>‘s frustrations look to have got the better of himself as he took out his anger on Strasbourg left-back Barco.<\/p>\n

England<\/a> were just minutes away from sealing their place in a first World Cup final since 1966 following Anthony Gordon’s 55th minute opener.<\/p>\n

But Chelsea<\/a> midfielder Enzo Fernandez equalised in the 85th minute with a stunning strike from distance.<\/p>\n

And Inter Milan striker Lautaro Martinez<\/a> then scored a stoppage-time winner to set-up a final meeting between Argentina and Spain.<\/p>\n

READ MORE ON TALKSPORTIncoming ban?<\/p>\n

As England’s stars were visibility emotional following the full-time whistle, holders Argentina<\/a> gleefully celebrated reaching back-to-back finals.<\/p>\n

Barco, an unused substitute in the match, could be seen directly celebrating in front of the Three Lions squad as he sprinted on the pitch.<\/p>\n

It was something that Bellingham may not have taken kindly too, as cameras caught him approaching the former Brighton man.<\/p>\n

And he appeared to slap him on the back on the head – resulting in Barco immediately shoving him away.<\/p>\n

But Bellingham wasn’t done there, as he proceeded to get in the face of the 21-year-old, with Nicolas Otamendi this time pushing him back.<\/p>\n

The Real Madrid midfielder, who was given a 6\/10 in Adrian Durham’s player ratings<\/a> from the game, now faces a retrospective ban should the incident be investigated.<\/p>\n

\"Jude<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Bellingham cut an emotional figure as England failed to reach a first World Cup final in 60 yearsCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

Bellingham wasn’t the only England star that was involved in a post-match confrontation.<\/p>\n

Aston Villa star Morgan Rogers had to be held back by his teammates<\/a> after taking umbrage to the Argentina squad.<\/p>\n

Rogers could be seen angrily pointing at matchwinner Martinez and Argentina’s back-up goalkeeper Juan Musso.<\/p>\n

Among the peacemakers looking to calm down proceedings were Ivan Toney, James Trafford and Dean Henderson.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, there were unsavoury scenes in New York<\/a> following England’s heartbreaking loss.<\/p>\n

Fans have been seen scrapping on the streets with supporters expressing their anger.<\/p>\n

Read More on talkSPORT\"Jude<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Bellingham was a standout performer for England at the World Cup in North America<\/p>\n

Attention will now turn towards Thomas Tuchel<\/a>‘s position as England manager, with the German having a contract through to Euro 2028.<\/p>\n

But the former Blues boss has a World Cup performance clause included in his contract<\/a>, which could see him replaced in the dugout. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jude Bellingham could land himself in hot water after appearing to slap Valentin Barco following England’s 2-1 defeat…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1092089,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4100],"tags":[135905,10105,393,298114,94,2676,298113,79,16,15,248657,1514,93214,298115],"class_list":["post-1092088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-2026-world-cup","tag-argentina","tag-england","tag-england-vs-argentina","tag-football","tag-jude-bellingham","tag-jude-bellingham-slap","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-valentin-barco","tag-world-cup","tag-world-cup-2026","tag-world-cup-semi-final"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116927685690618393","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1092088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1092088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1092088\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1092089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1092088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1092088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1092088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}