Jude Bellingham mimics Real Madrid greats with decisive moment on Champions League stage

Actual Madrid’s No 5 gained them the Champions League in opposition to German opposition on British soil with a powerful aim. However at Hampden Park, not Wembley; in 2002, not 2024; when it was Zinedine Zidane, not Jude Bellingham. A shocking volley in opposition to Bayer Leverkusen can nonetheless really feel contemporary, however it got here the yr earlier than Bellingham’s start.

In a single respect, Bellingham is Zidane’s successor. In one other, Dani Carvajal is. Actual can win Champions League finals with extraordinary targets from outstanding gamers, as Gareth Bale can testify. Or they will win them with defenders making use of the ultimate contact from set-pieces, as Sergio Ramos proved. Or, within the 2020s, they will win them with Vinicius Junior strikes. The frequent denominator, nearly the inevitability, is that Actual win them. And so, at 20, Jude Bellingham joins Actual’s listing of Champions League winners. They’re much less a band than a military, given the scale of them.

The close to assure of glory is a purpose gamers be part of Actual. But Bellingham is just not one to just accept future as a lot as form it. Even on what had began to really feel like certainly one of his poorest performances for Actual, he ended with an help within the greatest sport of his life. Vinicius Junior’s second aim, seeing off a spirited Borussia Dortmund, got here courtesy of Bellingham’s cross. It helped that Ian Maatsen had inadvertently picked the Brummie out; Actual are the group who invariably make opponents pay for errors on such a stage, as Loris Karius is aware of to his price.

However the nature of Bellingham is that, even when enjoying badly, he had twice threatened to be a scorer. He ghosted in behind the Dortmund defence, agonisingly near heading in Vinicius’ cross. He delayed too lengthy earlier than taking pictures to permit Nico Schlotterbeck to deflect simply broad. Maybe it’s a part of the reinvention of Bellingham: from middle-third maestro at Dortmund to final-third specialist for Actual. However possibly it faucets into a necessary sense at his new membership. Most of the Actual greats have been moments gamers: they didn’t knit a sport collectively however they did determine it. Bellingham has acquired that knack on the Bernabeu, too.

It was nearly his second at Wembley. It invariably was earlier than Christmas. He carried Actual for half a season; no surprise, maybe, that he then had a shoulder damage. He has not reached the identical ranges since. He didn’t look totally match. England face the prospect of a diminished Bellingham at Euro 2024. But Actual know a diminished Bellingham can nonetheless be lethal. He gave the impression to be labouring; not missing in effort however wanting sharpness. However Carlo Ancelotti left him on the pitch till a two-goal lead was secured, trusting in a talisman.

By the break, his most outstanding contribution when ambushed by an outsider, a pitch invader pausing play inside a minute to get a selfie with Bellingham. The temptation was to say he obtained nearer to the newly topped LaLiga participant of the season than many a defender has this yr. By half-time, it felt as if the trespasser had exerted a fairly greater impression on the sport than Bellingham. However the second half was completely different.

So a reunion provided vindication for Bellingham. He had captained Dortmund within the knockout phases of the Champions League as a young person; but the prospect of successful it of their colors felt faint. Like Erling Haaland, he as a substitute obtained his medal the yr after he bade farewell to the Westfalenstadion.

They’ve reshaped Dortmund by leaving. A couple of fifth of the Bellingham windfall went on Marcel Sabitzer and he was the dynamic presence within the midfield earlier than the break, surging via the inside-right channel Bellingham was meant to guard. The Austrian is nobody’s concept of a wunderkind. The 30-year-old is just not a generational participant; he’s a era older than Bellingham. He was a realistic pick-up. As he excelled, the inconceivable felt doable.

As a substitute, one romantic story belonged to Toni Kroos; within the remaining sport of his Actual profession, his record-equalling sixth Champions League got here with assistance from a waft of his proper boot, his nook bringing Carvajal’s opener. One other was Joselu’s and, on the ultimate whistle, Bellingham headed straight to the semi-final hero, who attended the 2022 remaining as a fan. He bowed in mock homage to Ancelotti, who added a fifth Champions League as a supervisor to 2 as a participant.

One other Actual legend introduced the trophy out. The spectre of Zidane had loomed over Bellingham lengthy earlier than then. A byproduct of the Galacticos coverage was that Actual rebranded a historically defensive quantity for the Frenchman as a result of 10 was already taken by Luis Figo. Their most iconic No 5 used to function off the left within the type of compromise Actual undertake as a result of they’ve too many deluxe skills; after a mid-season rejig, so does Bellingham. However whereas Zidane had his arms on the silverware at first of the evening, Bellingham did by the tip.