Jude Bellingham may have avoided his red card on Saturday if he had taken into account as a warning from Real Madrid legend Cristiano Ronaldo in 2018.
England Star Bellingham was sent by referee Jose Luis Munuera Montero 39 minutes in Madrid 1-1 draw at Osasuna for dirty and insulting language.
But Bellingham was unclear that he had not been abuse towards the referee, who accused the former wonder of Birmingham City of telling him: 'F *** You'.
The Bellingham report was that he had said: 'F *** off', but that these words were aimed at frustration, rather than at the competition officer.
Madrid -manager Carlo Ancelotti added after the game: 'I think the referee did not understand the English of Jude Bellingham. He said “f *** off”, not “f *** you” … that's very different.
“I will no longer talk about the referee because I want to be on the couch next week.”
Bellingham started his senior career in England with Birmingham City, before moving to the German side Borussia Dortmund in 2020.
He left Dortmund three years later for Madrid and has since made 76 performances for Los Blancos.
Just like Bellingham, Ronaldo played for Spain in England. He scored 118 goals in 292 games for Manchester United before he came to Madrid in 2009.
In 2018 during an interview with La Sexta, Ronaldo noted that 'F *** off' was a common sentence that was often ignored by English officials, but that it would probably land players in Spain.
Ronaldo said: 'I played in England for many years. For example, if there is an error, the English say a lot of “f *** off” and the referees say nothing.
“But if you say it here, they will send you out.”
Bellingham was determined that the referee made a mistake by sending him on Saturday.
In an interview after the game, the 21-year-old said: “I didn't just say anything to the referee. It is clear that there was a communication error.
“It is an expression like the Spanish 'J *** r' … and the result is that he left us with one player.
“It's not an insult, it was an expression for myself.”
Madrid was 1-0 up when Bellingham left the field. They had taken the lead through the 25th goal of Kylian Mbappe of the season.
But Osasuna hit back against the 10 men of Madrid in the second half when Ante Budimir found the net with a penalty shovel awarded by Munuera Montero for an error by Eduardo Camavinga.
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