Gareth Southgate welcomes ‘common-sense’ verdict over Jude Bellingham gesture

Gareth Southgate claimed UEFA’s decision to hand Jude Bellingham a suspended one-match ban for a gesture in the Euro 2024 last-16 win over Slovakia was a “common-sense” call but does not feel he needs to talk to the England midfielder about the incident.

Bellingham has been cleared to play in Saturday’s quarter-final against Switzerland after an investigation into a gesture seemingly made in the direction of the Slovakia bench as he celebrated his overhead kick goal to take the tie to extra time.

The Real Madrid star insisted in a social media post that the gesture was “an inside joke towards some close friends”, but UEFA opened an investigation on Monday to determine whether the gesture “violated the basic rules of decent conduct”.