LUCKY Jude Bellingham hits back after Thomas Tuchel labels England ‘lucky’ despite World Cup semi-final triumph

Jude Bellingham appeared to hit back at England manager Thomas Tuchel after the Three Lions booked their place in the World Cup semi-finals with a dramatic 2-1 extra-time victory over Norway.

Bellingham scored both goals in the quarter-final in Miami, but despite the result, Tuchel criticised his team’s display, describing England as “lucky” and admitting he was unhappy with the performance.

Tuchel: ‘We were lucky today’

Speaking after the match, Tuchel praised the result but made it clear he expected much more from his side.

He said:

“Not happy with the performance.

“We made life very, very difficult for ourselves today.

“The result is fantastic, we’re in the last four, it’s amazing, but we’re not happy with the performance.

“The commitment is there but we made life very difficult for us in the way we played, how we played.

“Sloppy, lot of technical mistakes, not fast enough, not repetitive enough. We were lucky today.”

When asked whether the pressure of the occasion had affected his players, Tuchel responded sharply:

“It’s not a mentality problem — this is pure mentality.

“How can you ask about mentality now? This is pure mentality. You can bottle it up and sell it. It’s the quality of our games. That’s it. It has nothing to do with mentality.”

Bellingham responds

Shortly afterwards, Bellingham was informed of his manager’s comments during his own television interview.

The Real Madrid midfielder reportedly rolled his eyes before replying:

“Whatever.”

He later defended the team’s efforts after battling through difficult conditions against a talented Norway side.

Bellingham said:

“It is difficult out there. It was a tough shift.”

He added:

“Maybe he doesn’t know what it takes to play in those conditions against Erling Haaland, Nusa, Sorloth – that’s not an easy team to play against.

“I think we have tried to create a positive environment. We should continue that into the final four.

“I can’t think highly enough of the lads. You’re not going to win every game popping a thousand passes, sometimes you have to win dirty.”

England into the last four

England were forced to come from behind after Norway took the lead before Bellingham struck twice, including the extra-time winner, to send Thomas Tuchel’s side into the World Cup semi-finals.

The victory means England are now just one match away from reaching the World Cup final, where they could continue their bid to win the tournament for the second time in their history.

Bellingham’s brace took his tally to six goals in six matches during the tournament, further underlining his importance to England’s World Cup campaign.