What Bellingham told Messi to provoke viral death stare

England star Jude Bellingham has revealed what he said to Lionel Messi to provoke a viral death stare from Argentina’s iconic captain.

It took only three minutes for tempers to flare in Thursday’s (AEST) gripping World Cup semi-final, won 2-1 by comeback kings and defending champions Argentina.

Lionel Messi stares at Jude Bellingham. SBS

Bellingham and Messi had a testy early verbal exchange in Atlanta, which ended with a quizzical Messi nodding and staring at his younger rival, appearing to be keeping receipts.

The star pair had a running battle throughout, with Messi at one point putting Bellingham in a headlock.

Messi, 39, piloted his team into the final with assists for Enzo Fernández and Lautaro Martínez’s goals.

Messi’s meme-God moment was the talk of social media post-match, with many users claiming that Bellingham had paid the price for poking the bear.

“There were zero problems with Messi. We were talking about a foul, actually,” Bellingham told reporters afterwards.

“There was nothing bad at all. I’m sure everyone will do their job and blow it out of proportion, but for me, there was nothing. It was a privilege to face Leo.”

England manager Thomas Tuchel paid the price for sitting on Anthony Gordon’s 55th minute goal.

Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said his players “smelled blood in the water” as England went ultra-defensive and allowed Messi to go to work.

The victory led tens of thousands to flood the streets of Buenos Aires in ecstatic celebrations, and marked another remarkable comeback that showed the perseverance of a team that is now one win from a back-to-back titles.

Argentina faces European champions Spain in Monday’s (AEST) final.

Argentina earlier survived by beating Cabo Verde and Switzerland in extra time, and rallied for an improbable 3-2 victory over Egypt after coming back from being down 2-0 with 11 minutes of regulation time to play.

Both the Swiss and Egyptian coaches criticised the refereeing.

Egypt’s Hossam Hassan went as far as to say that his team was the victim of a football establishment that favoured Messi and Argentina.

The comments fuelled criticism sparked by fans who argue that the FIFA bracket favoured La Albiceleste, and unfounded allegations on social media claiming that the governing body wants Argentina to once again become champions.

“We’ve been the best over these past four years, either you like it or not, and no matter what anyone says,” Messi said after the win over England.

“Once again, we’ve established ourselves among the top two teams in the world. That proves that everything we’ve done is no fluke and that nothing was handed to us...

“Reaching two consecutive World Cup finals is something very few achieve, and this group did it,” Messi said.

“If we had lost to England, there would have been people coming out to spout some nonsense, but we didn’t give them the chance.”

Jude Bellingham and Lionel Messi compete for the ball in front of England’s goal. Getty Images

Ex-Socceroos captain Craig Foster told Stan Sport’s Added Time that Messi - the leading goalscorer and assist provider in World Cup history - had ascended to a “different level” than other legendary players.

“This is his third World Cup final in four editions. Twenty players have two World Cups, and of course, there’s only one who has three, that’s Pele.

“Messi is already in the clouds, and in Argentina, he’s a saint. He could get his second World Cup here and actually go above Maradona, which is pretty amazing.”

Australian goalkeeping great Mark Bosnich agreed that Messi was “the greatest player of all time.” - with AP