Jude Bellingham & Mason Greenwood incident: La Liga hires lip-reader amid claims Real Madrid star used slur against Getafe's Man Utd loanee

The incident in question happened during Real's victory over their city rivals on Thursday, with Bellingham challenging Greenwood before allegedly mouthing the word "rapist" in the Manchester United loanee's direction. Getafe made a complaint to La Liga's representative in attendance, and the powers that be have now brought an expert lip-reader on board to investigate what was said, according to SER.

Greenwood is on a season-long loan in Spain from United having seen charges of attempted rape, assault and coercive control dropped in February 2023. His parent club are set to make a decision on his long-term future in the summer transfer window.

A forensic lip reader has told the Daily Mail that he is almost certain that Bellingham used the word "rapist".

Jeremy Freeman told the publication: “After carefully analysing the clip, I am 97 per cent confident that the spoken word is ‘rapist’, particularly when considering the context in which it was used. The visual cues of the lips indicate the presence of the 'R' and 'P' sounds, and the word appears to end sharply. Additionally, the speaker seems to have a pronounced Brummie accent, which I factored into my interpretation. Given the clarity of these visual markers and the absence of any viable alternative interpretation, I am quite certain of this conclusion.”

Whether Bellingham will be found guilty and punished for the alleged slur remains to be seen. League leaders Real Madrid will hope he is not banned having emerged as their star player in 2023-24 and with another Madrid derby, this time against fierce rivals Atletico, coming up at the weekend.