England relief as Jude only out for a fortnight
GARETH SOUTHGATE received reassuring news yesterday when Real Madrid confirmed Jude Bellingham’s ankle injury will not rule him out of England matches against Brazil and Belgium next month. La Liga’s top scorer hobbled out of Real Madrid’s 4-0 win over Girona on Saturday after twisting his left ankle. He appeared to go over on it in the first half and when Pablo Torre trod on it five minutes into the second period, the England midfielder needed treatment. Bellingham got back to his feet and had time to score his second goal of the night before going off on 57 minutes, watching the rest of the game with an ice pack and heavy strapping on the injury. Madrid kept England medics in touch with the situation yesterday as the club carried out further tests and, to Southgate’s relief, ligament damage was ruled out. Instead a sprain will keep Bellingham out of action for between two and three weeks but Madrid are confident he will be back for the second leg of their Champions League last-16 tie with RB Leipzig on March 6. That match comes over a fortnight before England take on Brazil — and Bellingham’s club-mate Vinicius Junior — at Wembley on March 23. Bellingham’s double act with the Brazilian forward is thriving and the pair destroyed Girona, who came into the game just two points behind Madrid. Vinicius scored the first and set up Bellingham to score the second and third. Vinicius said of Bellingham, who now has 20 goals in 29 games: ‘Jude is a star. We train together every day so we are getting to know each other well. We’re a family and he’s a great player who is scoring lots of goals.’ Meanwhile, Bellingham’s brother Jobe made an instant impact off the bench on Saturday, crashing in the third goal as Sunderland came from behind to beat Plymouth Argyle 3-1 at the Stadium of Light and move back into the Championship play-off places.