Jude Bellingham claims language barrier caused Real Madrid red card

Jude Bellingham has moved to clear up his controversial red card in Real Madrid’s 1-1 La Liga draw at Osasuna.

The England international was dismissed via a straight red card just before the break with Los Blancos leading 1-0 in Pamplona.

Referee Jose Luis Munuera Montero sent Bellingham off for just the second time in his Real Madrid career after a flashpoint between the pair following an Osasuna free kick.

Bellingham appeared to persistently speak to Montero as play restarted and the official eventually pulled out a red card.

Luka Modric was spotted trying to explain the situation at the start of the second period but the damage was already done from Bellingham’s perspective.

Bellingham explained himself at full time, claiming the interpretation in Spanish of what he said in English, was not correctly understood.

“I don’t want to repeat what I said but it’s more like ‘f**k’ or ‘f**k off’. I want everyone to know I didn’t want to put the team in a situation where they had to play with ten,” as per quotes from Marca.

“If you look at the video you can see it’s not the same as what the report says, I hope the Federation takes that into account. I didn’t insult anyone, I didn’t even say it to the referee, I said it to myself.

“It was a lack of understanding, a clear error by the referee.”

The issue was exacerbated by differing interpretations of what Bellingham said with Real Madrid indicating his four word expletive can be understood as ‘don’t f**k with me’ in Spanish, which does not appear to be the case.

The situation will be assessed by La Liga and the RFEF in the coming days with Bellingham currently facing at least a one-game ban ahead of the home clash with Girona on February 23.