"He said f*ck off, not f*ck you" - Carlo Ancelotti claims ref didn't understand Jude Bellingham before sending him off in Real Madrid v Osasuna draw

Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti has claimed that referee Jose Luis Munuera Montero misunderstood what Jude Bellingham said before sending him off in their La Liga clash with Osasuna. Los Blancos were held to a 1-1 draw in their LaLiga clash on Saturday, February 15.

Bellingham was given his marching orders in the 39th minute after exchanging words with Montero. According to Marca, Montero told Luka Modric that Bellingham told him, 'F*ck you!' due to which, he showed the English midfielder a straight red card.

In the post-match press conference, Ancelotti claimed that Bellingham should not have been dismissed and there had been a misunderstanding. The Real Madrid boss said (via Fabrizio Romano):

“I think the referee did not understand Jude Bellingham’s English. He said f*ck off, not f*ck you… that’s way different. I won’t talk more about the referee as I want to be on the bench next week”.

The red card seemed to sway the contest in Osasuna’s favor. They canceled Kylian Mbappe’s 15th minute opener through Ante Budimir's penalty (58') to force a draw at El Sadar. Bellingham’s red card against Osasuna was his second of his Real Madrid career, with his first coming against Valencia in March 2024.

''It's clear that a mistake was made'' – Jude Bellingham on red card incident in Real Madrid vs Osasuna clash

Just like Carlo Ancelotti, Jude Bellingham also believes that Montero made a "clear error" by sending him off in their clash with Osasuna. The English midfielder insisted that he didn’t insult the referee and claimed that the referee misunderstood what he said:

Bellingham said (via Marca):

"It's clear that a mistake was made, there was a communication error. I don't want to repeat what I said but it's more like 'fuck' and I want everyone to know that I didn't want to put the team in a situation where I wanted to leave the team with ten men. If you look at the video you can see that it's not the same as what the report says, I hope the Federation takes that into account. I didn't insult anyone, it's clearly seen in the video, I didn't even say it directly to the referee, I said it to myself. It was a lack of understanding, a clear error by the referee."

Bellingham added:

"I never insulted the referee, I'm glad to see that there are videos showing the reality despite the referee's report. I'm here to apologize to my teammates because I put them in a difficult situation today."

As things stand, Bellingham is currently facing a ban and won’t feature in Real Madrid’s next league game. However, he will be eligible to feature against Manchester City in the Champions League on Wednesday as the sending-off will only apply to LaLiga games.