Gianfranco Zola breaks silence on TV gaffe that left Bellingham in stitches as Chelsea icon says ‘I didn’t mean THAT’ | The Sun
CHELSEA legend Gianfranco Zola addressed his recent hilarious gaffe that left England star Jude Bellingham laughing his socks off.
Zola was part of the Channel 4 panel covering the Three Lions' 3-1 victory over Italy at Wembley where Gareth Southgate's men punched their ticket for Euro 2024.
Bellingham, 20, led the brigade after Gianluca Scamacca's opener as he won the penalty that Harry Kane converted to score his first goal and provided the assist for Marcus Rashford's finish.
The Italian shook off his country's loss and rose above it by praising the Real Madrid superstar's stunning performance as he got something off his chest.
Zola told Bellingham: "I have to say it makes me laugh, because at 20 years old I was still drinking milk from my mum."
That was when the star midfielder and the rest of the panel were left in stitches.
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The 57-year-old appeared on talkSPORT earlier today where his viral gaffe was revisited.
And the former striker proved to be a good sport as he couldn't stop giggling along with presenters Alan Brazil and Gabriel Agbonlahor.
Once he regained his composure, the ex-Italy international explained he got "lost in translation".
Brazil said: "I thought your English was very good!”
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Zola responded: “Yeah but sometimes I get lost in translation! I didn’t mean that!”
The Chelsea great then finally got the chance to say exactly what he wanted to tell Bellingham after full-time.
Zola said: "The fact is I am still very, very impressed by this young boy.
“Not only in the way he behaves on the pitch, but the maturity, talking, the composure.
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“I tell you something, there are moments in the game when things are not going your way and the tendency is to go along with it.
“There was one player not giving up in that moment, I noticed that, it was Bellingham. He created everything from nothing. Italy was going very well, they were controlling the game.
“But Bellingham himself created the first goal with an acceleration for the penalty. Then, the second one he created another fantastic acceleration.
“I was really impressed and I wanted to let him know that. But I didn’t expect that!”
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