Jude Bellingham angrily confronted the referee at the halftime break of Real Madrid’s contentious 3-2 victory on Sunday.
With goals from Edgar Gonzalez and Largie Ramazani, Los Blancos found themselves behind Almeria 2-0 at the half at the Bernabeu.
Despite several contentious moments in between, Carlo Ancelotti’s team rallied to win the match thanks to a goal by Dani Carvajal in the ninth minute of stoppage time.
The comeback was initiated with a penalty kick from Bellingham, but not before a confrontation with the match referee was captured on tape.
Bellingham ran straight for referee Francisco Jose Hernandez Maeso after the official blew up for halftime, causing boos to resound throughout the Bernabeu.
The England international yelled, “That’s a foul on me there!” in a fit of rage after failing to win his team a free kick.
After seeing his error, the referee said, “I agree with you on that one.”
Bellingham lost his temper at that point, spinning around and stomping off while exclaiming, “Oh my God, that was brilliant.”
The 20-year-old was upset over decisions that went against him, but Real Madrid gained a lot from some dubious VAR judgments following the interval.
The first occurred when Bellingham successfully converted a handball penalty after VAR intervened and recommended it.
Though it’s debatable if the Almeria defender was shoved, there’s little doubt the ball hit his arm.
When Sergio Arribas scored against his old team, another VAR call favored Real Madrid; however, the goal was later disallowed due to a foul committed by Dion Lopy during the build-up.
After sneaking in and grabbing the ball as a flailing arm brushed the former Borussia Dortmund star’s face, the midfielder was found to have fouled Bellingham.
In the third incident, Vinicius Jr. scored a goal to tie the score at two, but the referee called a handball.
Even if replays suggested that the first decision might have been right, VAR intervened once more to tell the on-field official to change his mind.
Carvajal’s last-minute goal gave Real Madrid the victory in the end, as they capitalized on the extra time brought on by the numerous VAR stoppages to crush Almeria’s hopes.
With eight points separating Barcelona and Girona at the top of the league, Los Blancos are one point behind the surprise team of this season.
