Jude’s not just Real deal... he is a born Galactico
JUDE BELLINGHAM looks like he was born to play for Real Madrid.
OK, we didn’t see the best of him when Carlo Ancelotti’s men dug deep to eliminate Manchester City from the Champions League.
But what we did get a glimpse of was a player who was willing to sacrifice himself for the greater good to ensure his team claimed a place in the semi-finals.
And, in a way, that was just as impressive as seeing him score a sensational goal or conjure up an assist for a team-mate.
Very few players possess the confidence to take themselves out of their comfort zone to wear the heaviest shirt in the game.
Especially when they have only just celebrated their 20th birthday.
But it was Bellingham’s desire to be the best version of himself that prompted him to leave Birmingham City at the tender age of 16 to move to Borussia Dortmund in Germany.
And he certainly doesn’t look out of place at the club of the two Ronaldos, Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo and Co.
In that respect, the way the midfielder has taken Madrid by storm reminds me of when my big mate Steve Mcmanaman left Liverpool to wear the famous white shirt back in 1999. I knew that Macca wouldn’t be fazed by sharing a dressing room with the Galactico generation.
He knew how good he was – and I had watched him every day in training and seen him play at a level that very few players in the Premier League were capable of.
Some critics felt Macca had bitten off more than he could chew by deciding to depart from his hometown club when he was so entrenched at Anfield.
But Steve wanted to challenge himself.
And he went to the Bernabeu knowing that he would excel in the company of greatness.
He scored a goal in the final as Real lifted the Champions League at the end of his first season – and would be a European champion again two years later. Steve also won two La Liga titles.
Off the pitch, he embraced the Spanish language and culture to become one of the most popular imports the club have ever had. It feels like Bellingham is following the same example.
Anyone who listened to his interview after Real beat City on penalties at the Etihad last Wednesday could not help but be impressed with the young man. Bellingham showed the bottle to step forward to convert from the spot in the shoot-out.
For the previous 120 minutes, he ran himself into the ground to help his team stem a Sky Blue tide of attacks. Let’s be honest, City were the better team over the course of the two games and should have taken another step towards defending the crown they won for the first time last season.
But Real discovered last year that trying to go toe-to-toe with Pep Guardiola’s team can be a painful and utterly futile experience.
Ancelotti’s tactical plan was to
Jude is following the Real example of my mate Steve Mcmanaman
ensure the same thing didn’t happen again. But to do that, he needed every single one of his players to buy into the resistance.
That meant naturally offensive players such as Belligham, Vinicius Jr, Toni Kroos and Rodrygo being ready to show a level of discipline that they don’t have to display too often playing for a team that spend most of the time on the front foot.
It was refreshing to see an elite team come up with a Plan B rather than being too proud to change their philosophy.
Madrid showed that doing the dirty work was not beneath any of them – and, in that respect, it was an oldschool European away performance.
Bellingham now faces Harry Kane’s Bayern Munich in the semi-finals.
It can only be good for the England national team that top players are now open to completing their football education in La Liga and the Bundesliga.