Real Madrid ‘Baffled’ by England Coach Thomas Tuchel’s Decision to Bench Jude Bellingham

The English national team coach appears to have different priorities than the Spanish giants, a situation now highlighted by a star player.

Real Madrid is reportedly expressing significant discontent with England’s national coach, Thomas Tuchel. According to the Spanish sports newspaper Marca, the source of this frustration is midfielder Jude Bellingham’s recent international duty. Bellingham, despite being called up to the Three Lions squad for friendly matches against Uruguay (1-1) and Japan (0-1), did not feature in either game.

Bellingham had made a brief return from injury for Real Madrid in a substitute appearance against Atletico Madrid just before the international break, after which he joined the England squad. Real Madrid officials subsequently described his call-up as «senseless,» arguing that Bellingham gained no valuable match practice. The club’s rationale was that if he was fit enough to train fully, he should have been fit enough to play, a view not shared by Tuchel.

Tuchel on Bellingham: ‘We don’t want him to get injured again’

Thomas Tuchel, speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live during the international period, defended his decision: «It’s too much of a risk. The inclination is that Bellingham won’t play. However, it helped us all that he was present. He was excellent in training, but he didn’t participate in all the full sessions. Everything looked very, very good, but we are holding him back. We don’t want him to get injured again at this crucial stage of the season.»

From Real Madrid’s perspective, Bellingham would have either benefited from match practice or, alternatively, should have remained in the Spanish capital to focus on conditioning for the upcoming Champions League quarter-final first leg against Bayern Munich. The return leg in Munich is scheduled just one week later, on April 15th.

Upcoming Real Madrid Fixtures: