England boss Gareth Southgate waited until the 61st minute to make his first change (Picture: Getty)
Jude Bellingham ‘lost it’ with Gareth Southgate as the England head coach once again dallied over his substitutions in the side’s Euro 2024 loss to Spain, it has been claimed.
Spanish substitute Mikel Oyarzabal came on and made himself an overnight national hero with an 86th-minute winner at Berlin’s Olympiastadion, securing La Roja a record-breaking fourth European Championship crown.
Cole Palmer had earlier dragged the Three Lions back into the match with a superb strike past Unai Simon in the 73rd minute, cancelling out Nico Williams’ opening goal shortly after half-time.
But a second successive European Championship defeat ensures England’s 58-year wait for major silverware goes on and Southgate faces a big decision over his future as he enters in the final few months of his contract.
Southgate’s cautious approach faced heavy criticism throughout England’s campaign and the 53-year-old again came under fire as he waited until the 61st minute to make a change, when captain Harry Kane came off for Ollie Watkins.
Palmer and Ivan Toney were later brought on as the Three Lions attempted to scrap their way back into the contest but it proved another sobering night for Southgate’s men, three years on from the team’s penalty shoutout defeat to Italy.
According to ESPN’s Mark Ogden, Bellingham lost his temper as an unchanged England desperately searched for an equaliser, which eventually came after Palmer’s introduction in the 70th minute.
Kane was taken off just past the hour-mark in Berlin (Picture: Getty)
‘I made a note on 38 minutes saying, “Already it’s started: Kane can’t move,” the Spanish defenders are knowing exactly what to do with him,’ Ogden explained.
‘Jude Bellingham was getting frustrated.
‘I don’t know if it came across on camera but just before Kane was taken off, Jude Bellingham lost it with Gareth Southgate on the side of the pitch as if to say, “Change something, do something!”, and Kane was taken off.’
Spain sealed a record-breaking fourth European Championship title with the win (Picture: Getty)
On The Rest Is Football podcast, ex-England striker Alan Shearer suggested the Real Madrid midfielder wasn’t happy at all’ with Southgate’s tactics in the German capital.
‘Bellingham wasn’t happy. He was stuck on the left again. You could tell he wasn’t happy at all,’ Shearer – the Premier League’s all-time top scorer – said.
‘He had a disappointed look about him, his arms were up, he was looking towards the bench for guidance. He could see things weren’t going well and he wasn’t happy with the lack of press and everything else.
Bellingham was ‘frustrated’ with Southgate’s tactics, according to Shearer (Picture: Getty)
‘He was showing all of those emotions. I could see it, I was looking at him all the time. He was showing it to the bench.
‘He’s not a left midfielder is he so I sort of understood his emotions. I was really surprised Gareth Southgate went back to four at the back.
‘Our best 45 minutes of football in the whole tournament was when we played three at the back in the first half against the Netherlands.
‘I thought he would go for that system again. It’s clear that [Phil] Foden and Bellingham don’t want to play on the left in that system.’
Speaking shortly after the final whistle, a dejected Bellingham said England produced some ‘good moments’ but ultimately failed to deliver on the big stage.
‘We probably didn’t play our best game, but there were definitely some good moments,’ he told BBC Sport.
‘We fought, we got back into the game, and then to concede that late goal was heartbreaking.
‘We all wanted nothing more than to make history, to make the people of England proud. We didn’t manage to do it. We didn’t quite deliver.’
For more stories like this, check our sport page.
Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.