Gary Lineker fumes at probe into Bellingham’s gesture as followers concern ban

Gary Lineker has today slammed the ‘ridiculous’ probe into Jude Bellingham‘s X-rated gesture as Uefa threaten to ban the star midfielder for England’s crunch game against Switzerland on Saturday.  

The Real Madrid midfielder appeared to make a crotch-grabbing gesture towards the Slovakian dugout after scoring a stunning 95th minute equaliser in Gelsenkirchen yesterday to send the tie into extra time. 

The player himself was quick to take to social media to point out that the act was an in joke aimed towards close friends who were in the stands. ‘Nothing but respect for how that Slovakia team played tonight,’ he added, on X.   

Uefa announced today it is investigating Bellingham for a ‘potential violation of the basic rules of decent conduct’.

Former England striker and captain Lineker fumed at the probe while calls have been made to ‘take to the streets’ if the 21-year-old is ruled out of the crucial clash against the Swiss. 

Lineker lashed out at Uefa’s investigation as he wrote on X/ Twitter: ‘For crying out loud, the @EURO2024 celebration police are looking into @BellinghamJude. Ridiculous!’

Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone only received a £17,000 fine for making a similar gesture during his side’s last 16 Champions’ League game against Juventus in 2019.

Cristiano Ronaldo was fined 20,000 euros for mimicking Simeone’s celebration after scoring a hat-trick in the return leg to fire his side into the quarter-finals and overturn Atletico’s 2-0 victory from the first leg. 

LBC’s Tom Swarbrick said the country should ‘take to the streets’ if the football governing body bans Bellingham. 

England fans have reacted in similar dismay with one branding the investigation ‘ridiculous’ while another accused Uefa of ‘blatant corruption’ if a ban is dished out.  

Uefa announced that an inspector ‘will conduct a disciplinary investigation regarding a potential violation of the basic rules of decent conduct’ by Bellingham ‘having allegedly occurred in the scope of this match’.

It remains to be seen if the investigation will conclude while the tournament is ongoing. Uefa opened a disciplinary probe into Serbia amid allegations monkey noises were made during their opening game against England on June 16. Despite more than two weeks passing, a conclusion remains outstanding. 

The inspector will carry out his probe, no doubt taking in video evidence of the matter, before reporting back with their findings to Uefa’s Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body.

They will then decide whether to punish the player, with a suspension among the sanctions available to them. The fact that an inspector has been appointed, rather than the player hit with an instant charge, suggests the matter is not clear cut.

They have also charged the FA with lack of order or discipline by supporters and the lighting of fireworks. 

Bellingham is on a yellow card and would miss the semi-final if he is booked in the quarter-final against Switzerland, should England prevail in Dusseldorf.

A ban is considered highly unlikely, based on recent cases. Should the inspector decide to charge Bellingham, he will then have the opportunity to put forward his case. Attempting to then disprove the defence the player has presented on social media could well prove very difficult.

Should Bellingham miss the last-eight tie against Switzerland then England would be left without their star of the tournament so far.

The 21-year-old – who celebrated his birthday on Saturday – has scored two goals across England’s four games at the tournament so far and is recognised as a leader within the national camp.

Later, after Harry Kane had scored a winner in extra-time, Declan Rice was involved in a heated exchange with opposition manager Francesco Calzona, which led to him being held back by Aaron Ramsdale. Rice appeared to call the Italian, who had tried to approach the officials, a ‘bald ****’.

Expert lipreader Jeremy Freeman told Mail Sport that during the altercation, a furious Rice said: ‘Shut up, p***y, oi, shut up, you bald ****.’ 

Mail Sport understands that UEFA have no plans to charge Rice.

Any form of suspension for Bellingham would be a big blow to Gareth Southgate and his England side, who have only scored four goals in four games at this summer’s Euros – with Bellingham netting two of those. 

On Monday morning, pundits in Germany criticised Bellingham for his actions and warned that he could go down ‘a really stupid direction’.

Christoph Kramer, who plays for Borussia Monchengladbach in the Bundesliga and faced Bellingham on the pitch several times, told ZDF: ‘He is an outstanding player. He just has to be careful that he doesn’t start to get cocky at such a young age.

‘What I always find really bad is when you wave your hands off your own players. He made a few gestures today, but he has done so in recent games as well.’

‘These theatrical fouls, yellow cards. He stays down, that’s part of football, but…’

Per Mertesacker, formerly of Arsenal, then interrupted, saying: ‘He doesn’t stay lying down, he rolls around. You don’t have to roll around again to provoke something.’

In response, Kramer added: ‘The season he played, I give him credit for that. But he still has to be careful that things don’t go in a really stupid direction. I hope that he reflects on that a bit during the summer break.’

Bellingham joined his current club Real Madrid from German side Borussia Dortmund last summer to the apparent relief of his old team-mates.