Defiant Thomas Tuchel clashes with ITV reporter in extraordinary interview as he demands more from his ‘lucky’ England team after World Cup win over Norway – before matchwinner Jude Bellingham hits back with ‘whatever’ jibe

Thomas Tuchel cut an explosive figure at full-time as he clashed with ITV correspondent Gabriel Clarke, demanding more from his England team just minutes after they reached their fourth World Cup semi-final with victory over Norway.

England were pushed into extra time against Erling Haaland and Co, with Jude Bellingham grabbing an equalizer at half-time after going behind.

The second moment of his Bellingham spell featured the Three Lions against Switzerland or Argentina – but despite his players’ raucous celebrations, Tuchel was in no mood to rest on his laurels.

“I didn’t talk about suffering,” Tuchel corrected Clarke, an indication of the firepower to come. ‘I never talked about suffering.

‘We made life very difficult for ourselves today. The result is magnificent. But I am not satisfied with its performance. Again there is commitment but we made life very difficult for us with the way we played, sloppy and not repetitive enough. We were lucky today.

After Clarke asked if it was the ‘mentality’ that had caused England’s level to drop, Tuchel said: ‘I don’t know, it’s not the mentality.’ ‘Mentality? This is pure mentality now! It’s not about mentality.

Standout star Jude Bellingham stunned by manager’s assessment in interview

‘There is no mentality problem, it is pure mentality, you can bottle it and sell it, it is a feature of our games. ‘This has nothing to do with mentality.’

Tuchel at least agreed that his substitutes were ‘very good’.

‘Very good. Reece James was excellent, Morgan Rogers was excellent, Djed (Spence) came into the game. “Full praise to them, but we were lucky together today,” he added.

‘We need to play better.’

He agreed with Bellingham’s genius: ‘Enough said. He does this in every match. World class.’

“We will be better, we need to be better,” Tuchel said. ‘Now it’s a celebration, we’ve got three days, we need everything, we need a better performance.’

When asked about his manager’s interview, the ebullient Bellingham appeared to disagree with Tuchel’s assessment, initially praising the ‘quality’ of the group.

“The manager’s not very happy actually,” Clarke told Bellingham on the pitch, to which Bellingham simply replied: “Yeah, whatever.”

‘Anyway. “The situation is difficult there,” he said. ‘It’s a difficult change. All players went through a very difficult transfer. So my thoughts and appreciation go out to the players there.’

Harry Kane admitted that Tuchel had raised similar concerns with the players, telling Clarke: ‘Yes, he said this in the dressing room, obviously big congratulations, we should enjoy it, but part of him also knows we can do better.

‘It’s a good thing in a way, we’re in the semi-finals, we know we can improve, we can still find another level, we have to take that as a positive. We have the most important elements as a team, we showed it there. If we can get some more action with the ball and possession, we’ve got some good games ahead of us.’

England fell behind in the first half after Jordan Pickford fell victim to a wildly batted ball from Andreas Schjeldrup.

But Bellingham showed why England were ahead by equalizing to make the score 1-1.

The Real Madrid star dazzled England by scoring six goals in this World Cup.

Fellow superstar Erling Haaland had to watch the crucial extra time from the bench

But England’s equality did not come without controversy; Fans on social media noticed a high ball hit the stadium’s spider camera before landing at the feet of Elliot Anderson.

Anderson then passed the ball to Anthony Gordon, who set up Bellingham – but Norwegian fans were outraged after checking the IFAB’s Laws of the Game; This rule states that if the ball hits the ceiling or a fixture suspended above the pitch and remains within the field of play, the match must be stopped.

However, FIFA disputed whether the ball actually hit the wire and posted on X: ‘England vs Norway 45+2. ‘Prior to his goal in the minute, the sensor on the Connected Ball showed no ‘peak in the heartbeat of the ball’ while in the air and therefore there was no evidence that the ball had touched the wire in the air and changed the ball’s motion.’

A chip is attached to each of the footballs used in the tournament and ‘connected ball technology’ is used, which transfers the data directly to the VAR system.

The microchip produces accurate, instantaneous data on everything from ball movement, speed and trajectory to player touches, while Adidas claims the technology enables ‘in-game referee decisions to be made faster and provides more insight into gameplay than ever before’.

After the break, neither side could find the breakthrough, leading to extra time and an uncomfortable substitution for Norway, with striker Viking Haaland forced.

The Manchester City superstar could only watch from the bench as his former Borussia Dortmund team-mate Bellingham grabbed the winner before England’s late penalty claim was called off.

As has become tradition, England celebrated their victory by singing along to Oasis’ Wonderwall on the pitch with traveling fans in the sticky Miami heat.

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