When social media = news, you get all kinds of nonsense about Jude Bellingham and Marcus Rashford…
**Hey Jude**
This is why ‘viral’ clips should stay on social media and not make the transition to mainstream online platforms…
> ‘Brutal moment Antoine Griezmann ‘ends Jude Bellingham’s career’ with five seconds of pure genius’
Yes, **The Sun**, it really was ‘brutal’ the way that Bellingham’s ‘career’ was ‘ended’ before [**he scored one of the penalties**](https://www.football365.com/news/opinion-mbappe-bellingham-vinicius-real-madrid-simeone-arsenal) to send Real Madrid through to the Champions League quarter-finals once again, less than a year after he won both the Champions League and La Liga in his first season with the world’s biggest football club.
The poor, poor sod. All over and still only 21.
But his name is clearly trending so **GB News** would like a piece of the action:
> ‘Real Madrid star Jude Bellingham makes feelings clear after penalty shootout row in Atletico Madrid clash’
He ‘made his feelings clear’ by not once mentioning the ‘penalty shootout row’ and saying without any remote hint of controversy or even vague interest: “Really happy. It’s a huge game for us to win. It’s massive for us, so important for us to get through at this stage. It will mean a lot to the fans because of who we were playing against.”
Sad to see he really does not seem to have realised that his career has been ‘ended’.
**First REFUSAL
****The Sun** are on one with the Real Madrid controversy…
> ‘Reason Kylian Mbappe ‘REFUSED to take penalty’ revealed as he walked away before horror Vinicius Jr miss’
On closer inspection, it turns out he REFUSED to take the penalty because “he struggled with his ankle and with a toenail that is coming off”.
In other news, Rodri has REFUSED to play for Manchester City for much of this season.
**Boiled rice
**Now you might think there was little that was controversial about Arsenal’s progress against PSV Eindhoven, but then you probably do not work for Reach’s **football.london**. Apparently, something needs explaining…
> ‘Why Declan Rice hit back at Arsenal statement as unique Champions League scenario plays out’
You might reasonably ask ‘what Arsenal statement is this?’ and a quick Control F ‘statement’ confirms that no ‘statement’ is mentioned in the piece.
As for Rice ‘hitting back’…it literally says that the midfielder – who made a small joke about his celebration – was ‘smiling throughout’ and ‘didn’t seem to take it too badly’.
So no statement. No hitting back. You’ll be telling us next that there was no ‘unique Champions League scenario’.
**EXPLAINED!
**‘Why ‘world class’ Asensio can face employers PSG for Villa’ is one of those search-friendly headlines we expect to see pretty much everywhere but the **BBC**.
Is it because UEFA rules do not stop loan players playing against their parent clubs and never have? Yes, yes it is. Thanks for that.
**Woke up with a feeling…
**In today’s instalment of ‘what do English words and phrases mean in 2025?’ we have the **Manchester Evening News** wanting a piece of the Marcus Rashford clicks action…
> ‘Man United stars make Marcus Rashford feelings known after one-word Aston Villa message’
First, let’s deal with that ‘one-word Aston Villa message’, which was the one word ‘qualified’ on social media. Is it a ‘message’? Is it balls but Mediawatch has long since let that ship sail into the blood-stained sea.
And how have ‘Man United stars make Marcus Rashford feelings known’? By clicking the ‘like’ button on their phones, obviously. Literally that.
Their ‘feelings’ are probably ‘I am a bored young person and I am scrolling aimlessly though Instagram liking the odd post’ and they have now made those ‘feelings’ very much ‘known’.
**A Tuch of dishonesty
**Thomas Tuchel’s first England squad will be announced on Friday so there is obviously mileage in, well, pretending that it has been named already. Otherwise known as ‘lying’.
So here come the **Express**…
> ‘England squad decided with Thomas Tuchel to recall Marcus Rashford and snub Man City duo’
And who has the ‘England squad’ been ‘decided’ by? Several Express football writers obviously. Wasn’t that clear from the headline?
And on **Football Insider**…
> ‘Thomas Tuchel is planning ‘Marcus Rashford surprise’ after ‘transformation’’
Yes, according to ‘former Man United and Blackburn chief scout Mick Brown, who remains very well-connected within the game’, “there will be a few surprise selections in there, Rashford was nowhere and now he is back transformed”.
Not quite the same as a ‘Marcus Rashford surprise’ or indeed anywhere close to an idea about what Tuchel is ‘planning’, but why let that get in the way of an update on an England squad that literally nobody knows but the actual England coach.