Footballer Jude Bellingham has apologised after giving his jersey to the person next to a young boy who was holding a sign that read: “Jude, can I have your shirt please?”
Following last night’s historic 10-0 victory against San Marino, the England player approached the stands to give his jersey to one of the supporters.
The little boy with the sign must have been giddy with excitement when he saw Bellingham approach - only to be crestfallen when the midfielder unintentionally snubbed him and gave his shirt to a supporter holding a Birmingham City flag.
The man with the boy holding the sign tried to catch Bellingham’s shirt with his walking stick as the footballer threw it over the partition.
It instead landed in the arms of the Birmingham football fan instead.
In a scene that invoked images of the crying German girl from last summer, the camera zooms in on the boy who defeatedly loosens his grasp on the sign.
A video of the unfortunate encounter was uploaded to Twitter and has garnered over 150,000 views within just a couple of hours.
You've got to feel for this England fan 💀 pic.twitter.com/SjZ3fJgTRd
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) November 16, 2021
The 18-year-old athlete tweeted to apologise and said he was distracted by the flag of his former football club, Birmingham City.
Hoping to harness the power of social media, Bellingham asked Twitter to find the disappointed lad so he can make it up to him by giving him his Borussia Dortmund shirt this weekend instead.
In the replies, several people joked about being the boy, encouraging the footballer to send them the shirt. Others identified the child as “Jurgen Klopp” from Anfield in reference to Liverpool FC’s manager following reports Borussia Dortmund won’t let Bellingham transfer to the Reds for less than €120m (£101m).
Twitter user Cristal said: “You are an actual angel wow” with another Twitter user by the name of Zohair writing: “What an amazing man you are. As a human and player both!”
Although he didn’t get the shirt, we’re certain Bellingham will make it up to the young fan at the next game.
