Real Madrid angry with Tuchel over ‘pointless’ Bellingham trip that ‘raises more questions than answers’ | OneFootball

Real Madrid are reportedly unhappy with Thomas Tuchel over what they insist was Bellingham’s ‘pointless’ inclusion in the England squad for their recent friendlies against Uruguay and Japan.

Bellingham has started just 15 La Liga games for Los Blancos this season having suffered two significant injuries.

Shoulder surgery kept him out of two England camps at the end of 2025 but Tuchel decided to call Bellingham up for his latest squad, the last before making his World Cup selection, despite the midfielder only just returning from a hamstring problem.

Bellingham only managed a brief cameo for Madrid in the derby day victory over Atletico Madrid two weeks ago before teaming up with England.

The 22-year-old training with his Three Lions teammates ahead of both the 1-1 draw with Uruguay and the 1-0 defeat to Japan but didn’t play a single minute in either game.

Explaining his decision not to field Bellingham, Tuchel told BBC Radio 5 Live: “I think it’s too much of a risk. So, the tendency is that he [Bellingham] will not play.

“We have all gained from him being part of it. He was excellent in training, but he was involved as a neutral player. He was involved in not the whole 100 per cent of the training.

“So, it looked very, very good but we’re still holding him back, to not take a risk. The injury is a muscle, it’s a very particular one, and we absolutely don’t want the re-injury in this moment of the season.

“And him as well, it was very good that he was in camp. He was excellent. But the tendency is that he won’t play.”

Real Madrid aren’t best pleased according to Spanish outlet Marca. They believe it was a ‘pointless trip’ which ‘raised more questions than answers’, whatever that means.

Presumably Madrid would have preferred that Bellingham ‘competed’ for England to ‘accumulate minutes’ ahead of their La Liga clash with Mallorca on Saturday and their Champions League clash with Bayern Munich at the Bernabeu on Tuesday.

But while they believe his inclusion in the England squad was ‘unnecessary’, Tuchel overworking Bellingham for the Three Lions before he’s fully recovered from injury would no doubt have been met with similar anger on the part of the Los Blancos bosses.