Real Madrid Coach Ancelotti Explains Bellingham Red Card After Osasuna Draw: ‘VAR Must’ve Been Turned Off’

Real Madrid head coach Carlo Ancelotti tried to explain his midfielder Jude Bellingham’s shock dismissal after their team drew 1-1 with Osasuna on Saturday.

Madrid went 1-0 up through Kylian Mbappe inside a quarter of an hour in El Sadar. Approaching half time, though, Bellingham received a straight red card after seeming to be in some sort of discussion or exchange of views with the referee.

Asked about the match overall following the full time whistle, Ancelotti said: “We started well and finished well with one less. The red card with Jude, I don’t think he understood him well. He tells him to ‘f*ck off’, not ‘f*ck you’.”

“They have had strange things in these three games that everyone has seen. I don’t feel like adding more. Everyone saw that the VAR has come in to see plays in their area and in ours they have [too],” Ancelotti added, with regards to a 58th minute penalty which Ante Budimir converted to tie the score, once Eduardo Camavinga was deemed to have stomped on an opponent’s foot.

“There is a problem. Something has happened that shouldn’t happen. We must fight and continue,” insisted Ancelotti, whose team has again dropped points to let Atletico Madrid and FC Barcelona possibly take advantage in the title race.

Pushed to discuss the Bellingham incident a second time, Ancelotti said: “I would be in favour of talking to the referee, not Bellingham … He has done nothing to be sent off. There’s nothing to talk about with him.”

As for his own brush with the match official, which resulted in him getting a yellow card, Ancelotti revealed: “I told him that there was a handball in the area that had to be checked by the VAR, but they must have turned it on later.”

Ancelotti made his comments as Atletico took to the field against Celta Vigo with the chance to go two points clear at the top of La Liga through a win.

Barca hosts Rayo Vallecano on Monday, when Madrid will be focused on Wednesday’s Champions League playoffs second leg showdown against Manchester City in the Bernabeu while boasting a 3-2 advantage earned in the first installment of the tie this week.