Why Real Madrid's Jude Bellingham was denied late winner in Valencia draw

"It plays with your heart," Jude Bellingham said earlier this season, "but I love the comebacks."

Real Madrid's latest superstar thought he had sealed another dramatic turnaround against Valencia on Saturday night only to be denied by a punctual parp of the referee's whistle. One can only imagine Jesus Gil Manzano's heart rate as a flood of Madrid players swarmed him, racked with blinding rage.

Bellingham initially wheeled away to celebrate a 99th-minute header which would have secured a dramatic victory for the league-leading visitors. Instead, the young Englishman ended the 2-2 draw with a red card after charging towards Gil Manzano and repeatedly shouting: "It's a f***ing goal!"

Here's why it was not a goal.

Why was Real Madrid's Jude Bellingham denied a late winner in Valencia draw?

As Valencia forward Hugo Duro explained after the match, Gil Manzano had signalled that he would blow the final whistle after one last set piece in the ninth minute of second-half stoppage time. "When we took the corner he said it was the last one. I don't know why he waited to whistle if he'd said that."

Luka Modric's corner was cleared to the edge of the box where Brahim Diaz fought his way onto the ball. Duro, the closest player to the official, turned his back on the game and demanded the final whistle that had been promised. Seemingly caught in two minds, Gil Manzano reluctantly fired off a clear conclusion to the contest just as Diaz tossed a cross into the box.

After watching their side cede a 2-0 lead, Mestalla was a deafening cauldron of whistles from the crowd begging for the game's end - which ironically prevented those inside the penalty box from hearing Gil Manzano's blast. Bellingham deftly glanced Diaz's cross beyond Giorgi Mamardashvili, prompting Valencia's Cristhian Mosquera to scream in agony at what he thought was the concession of a late winner.

The referee is under no obligation to wait for a promising attack to play out before blowing up - as Gil Manzano proved in the opening 45 minutes when he whistled for half-time just as Valencia tip-toed into Madrid's penalty area. Sergi Canos - the player in possession for the first hasty whistle - quickly pointed this out amid the scrum of players surrounding the official.

The only action that would delay the conclusion of a contest is a penalty, with Law 7 stating: "If a penalty kick has to be taken or retaken, the half is extended until the penalty kick is completed."

Carlo Ancelotti, as ever, summed up the cause of controversy perfectly. "Had the referee blown the whistle when the Valencia keeper cleared the ball, it would have been right," he shrugged.

Madrid's manager insisted: "It's never happened to me before," while the club's official match report decried the incident as "an unprecedented refereeing decision". But that's not strictly true.

Clive Thomas infamously whistled for full time just as Zico headed in a potential winner for Brazil against Sweden in the 1978 World Cup. Decades later, Thomas was still adamant that he made the correct call. "You will notice that in 99% of matches they blow for half-time or full time when the ball is near the halfway line," the Welsh official scoffed. "Cheating is a heavy word...but what those referees are doing is a form of cheating."

Not many agreed with Thomas then and Gil Manzano has found himself in a modern-day minority.

Reaction to Jude Bellingham's disallowed winner for Real Madrid

Valencia's first goalscorer Duro expressed sympathy for his opponents. "I understand Madrid," the club's former academy player admitted, "he had to whistle when we cleared the ball. He waited until Brahim had the ball and when he was going to cross, then he whistled."

Not everyone was quite so calm when expressing their disapproval.

Bellingham was sent off by Gil Manzano for making an expletive-laden assertion that the goal should have stood. Both Antonio Rudiger and Vinicius Junior had to be held back during wild scenes in the aftermath of that all-important final whistle while Dani Carvajal simply flapped his arms in disbelief.

Madrid's biggest sports papers Marca and AS both led with "scandal" in the headline but so did the Barcelona-based publication Sport.

Aurelien Tchouameni lamented the decision as "embarrassing" on social media - a sentiment which Eduardo Camavinga backed.

Immediately after the game, Ancelotti admitted: "We're obviously still angry, the dressing room is very heated, that is normal."

However, Bellingham had calmed down enough to pose for pictures and sign autographs for the children patiently waiting in the bowels of Mestalla once he had showered and changed clothes.

READ THE LATEST REAL MADRID NEWS, TRANSFER RUMOURS & GOSSIP