Jude Bellingham leaned into Romero at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano and, according to the lip-read reconstruction aired by Movistar+ programme El Día Después, said this to him:

“When you’re with Messi, you talk a lot. But here, nothing.”

Messi was not on the pitch on Sunday, but Bellingham used the Argentina captain’s name to needle Romero over their national-team hierarchy.

Romero did not back down. According to the same reconstruction he called Bellingham a “crybaby” and, in Spanish, told him “lloraste allá” (“you cried over there”), a pointed reference to Argentina’s semi-final win over England at the 2026 World Cup two months earlier.

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First derby since Romero’s move

Sunday was the first Madrid derby of the 2026-27 La Liga season and the first meeting between Romero and Bellingham since the Argentine signed for Atlético Madrid from Tottenham in the summer, on a contract that runs until 2031. Atlético paid Spurs a fixed €35m for the World Cup-winning centre-back.

Their personal history stretches back to Atlanta on 15 July, when Argentina beat England 2-1 in the World Cup semi-final, an Anthony Gordon opener on 55 minutes cancelled out by an Enzo Fernández strike on 85 and a Lautaro Martínez header in the second minute of stoppage time.

Reporter Andrés Marín, whose social post amplified the Movistar reconstruction, noted that the on-pitch argument also drew in Giuliano Simeone, son of Atlético head coach Diego Simeone, and stretched across several separate moments during both halves.

Atlético took the derby too

Alejandro Grimaldo scored from the penalty spot on 53 minutes, three minutes after Dean Huijsen was sent off for Real Madrid, and Jonathan David added a second for Atlético on 59. Antonio Rüdiger pulled one back for the visitors on 89.

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At the final whistle Bellingham was picked up on camera shouting “two red cards, two!” at referee Ortiz Arias, arguing that Atlético should have gone down to nine men. In his post-match press conference José Mourinho held up printed images of two disputed challenges, including one in which he said Romero had stood on Bellingham’s knee.

Real Madrid followed with an official statement criticising what the club called “very terrible refereeing.”

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