When presented with the claim that Jude Bellingham did not celebrate with his compatriots, England manager Thomas Tuchel admitted those scenes “are not the image we want” and promised to review the footage.
The German coach will find a very different picture. As Harry Kane nodded England into a 2–0 lead against Albania on Sunday evening, taking his personal tally to 78 international goals, Bellingham was indeed not part of the initial party which swarmed around the nation’s talisman.
Instead, the sage 22-year-old had made a beeline for Marcus Rashford, who delivered the vicious cross which set up Kane’s goal. Bellingham soon made his way over to his international skipper, offering two high-fives and a hug.
The argument from the probing reporter who presented Tuchel with this distorted scenario was that Bellingham had already spotted that he was going to be substituted for Morgan Rogers at the next break in play. Quite when the buccaneering midfielder would have had time to peer into the tactical plans of his manager is unclear and there was no great show of dissent when Bellingham’s number was illuminated by the fourth official. He simply bowed his head and trotted over to the touchline, where he greeted Rogers and Tuchel.
England’s manager admitted that he “saw [Bellingham] was not happy” but quickly added: “I have to review it.”
“I don’t want to make it bigger at the moment than it is,” Tuchel critically added.
