by Jude Bellingham should wear the boos from the Brazil supporters inside Wembley as a badge of honour, but England’s star attraction will have to get used to being the target of football mercenaries.
Not many England players have wowed the Brazilian fans in recent years and he says Bellingham was a standout on Saturday night.
While Bellingham won’t have to worry about Brazil this summer, their attention during the 1-0 win gave it a taste of what to expect at the European Championships.
Not only will he be targeted by jealous opposition fans, who now watch him play for Real Madrid, Bellingham will also be wound up and kicked by opponents on the pitch in Germany.
It was only 20 minutes when Bellingham got the bird from a Wembley corner decked out in yellow and green, not long after he had been booked for a foul on Newcastle United’s Bruno Guimaraes.
Bellingham had flown into the late clash with Guimaraes, who made the most of it – probably expecting to see a red card.
The booking frustrated Bellingham, who had already had a number of late kicks go unpunished and threatened by placing both hands on the shoulders of Portuguese referee Artur Ribeiro Soares Dias.
He was not aggressive and he was only protesting his innocence, but we have seen how rash referees can be in the heat of the camps and it would not be wise for Bellingham to handle an official at the Euros.
Bellingham has already been warned by his club after being sent off for chasing a referee who disallowed what the player thought was a last-gasp winner for Real Madrid against Valencia.
The protests at Wembley were less aggressive. But they didn’t stop after Bellingham put his hands on the referee, as he continued to complain when the game had to be stopped due to Kyle Walker’s injury.
Again, he fell short of the mark but England know well that emotions need to be kept in check at tournaments – just ask Wayne Rooney and David Beckham.
England manager Gareth Southgate will be encouraged that Bellingham did not concede another foul after his booking, despite the rough treatment he received, and that he regained his composure.
Aside from some joshing with Madrid team-mate Vinicius Junior, it was clearly part of Brazil’s plan to try and tackle Bellingham and kick him as they would have barely been able to stop him otherwise.
During his 67 minutes on the field, Bellingham was tackled five times, twice more than any other player for either side.
Bellingham couldn’t believe it when Lucas Paqueta escaped a second yellow card for cynically fouling him. The West Ham midfielder used more life than an adventurous cat and somehow stayed on the pitch.
Bellingham’s appeals to the official were again ignored and Paqueta took it upon himself to stop the 20-year-old Joao Gomes, who fouled him either side of half-time but was given no penalty. Between them, Paqueta and Gomes conceded 11 goals at Wembley.
Starting with the highest number of English midfielders, Bellingham sometimes seemed to be in the partnership of striker Ollie Watkins. But he had license to roam and often picked up the ball near the halfway line with the intention of running towards the Brazilian penalty area.
He rolled and turned in opponents, exchanged passes with teammates and rode tackles, but every time he looked like he was going to break through or run clean, Bellingham would get another kick or a clever draw.
His two attempts on goal came in the second half, with a clever effort bouncing off the post and a header also falling wide of the target before he needed help from the Brazilian with cramp.
Despite standing out as England’s best player, Bellingham cut a frustrated figure when he was replaced by Southgate, who put an arm around him and offered some words in his ear.
Southgate was wise to avoid a question about Bellingham’s mentality when he announced his squad to friends Brazil and Belgium, saying: “What I won’t do,’ warns Southgate, is arguably the best player we have had in decades. the back pages! I know that’s great fodder.”
Joking about the end of the exchange, Southgate understands the attention Bellingham receives from opponents, supporters, the media and the world at large.
He also knows that Bellingham is a winner, which is why Endrick’s late winner, watching from the sidelines, will hurt far more than any of the fouls from Paqueta and Gomes.
