England coach Thomas Tuchel has apologized to Jude Bellingham for saying the Real Madrid midfielder’s behavior “can be a bit repulsive.”
Tuchel said there was “no message, no hidden agenda” behind his comment, which was made in a radio interview the day after a 3-1 loss to Senegal in a friendly in June.
“I used this word unintentionally,” the German coach said of the eye-catching “repulsive” remark, adding that was “sorry for the upset that I created.”
Tuchel said he made contact with Bellingham immediately after the remark that was used in the context of the edge the midfielder brings to the England team.
“I see that it can create mixed emotions,” Tuchel said in the interview on talkSPORT. “I see this with my parents, with my mum, that she sometimes cannot see the nice and well-educated and well-behaved guy that I see.
“If he smiles, he wins everyone. But sometimes you see the rage, you see the hunger and the rage and the fire, and it comes out in a way that can be a bit repulsive, for example, for my mother, when she sits in front of the TV.”
Two-and-a-half months later, Tuchel said: “I am experienced enough, I should have known better, I should have done better.”
“It is my responsibility. I used the wrong word, I didn’t want to use this word.”
Bellingham was absent from Tuchel’s latest England squad, announced Friday for upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Andorra and Serbia, as he recovers from surgery on a shoulder injury.
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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