Jude Victor William Bellingham, this is your league. The title opened with him and effectively closed with him too, told the way it had to be, an inevitability to it all. In the beginning he had stood arms wide in front of 48,927 people at San Mamés, the ground so revered they call it the Cathedral, having scored his first Real Madrid goal on his debut. In the end, he stood arms wide in front of 77,981 at his new home, having just scored his 21st, 17 of them in La Liga. From August to April, Bilbao to the Bernabéu, via Almería and Vigo, Cádiz and Seville, Braga and Naples, 881,881 people have seen a celebration that may not be new but which became his and is now the mark of the champions; symbol of this season.
It had been seen after every goal except one but, it turned out, even that was right somehow, as if Bellingham knew. In his first clásico, the game he had watched growing up, he scored the equaliser at Montjuïc. He didn’t go all Christ the Redeemer then but did when he got the winner Madrid-style: after the stadium clocks had stopped, 92 minutes in, an early taste of the epic. Now, six months on, he only went and did it again, a 91st-minute goal carrying Madrid to another clásico victory, 3-2, and towards the league title, nodding as he welcomed the Bernabéu into his arms. With six games left, they lead Barcelona by 11 points. “He arrived at the right time,” Carlo Ancelotti said. “It had been a while since he scored.”
A while. Well, it is one way to put it. Bellingham’s last Madrid goal had come in February, which isn’t long for a midfielder, let alone a midfielder in his first season at the club, and still less when you look at the fixture list, but it says something about the standards he has set. Before last night, he had gone three whole games without a league goal. These have been difficult weeks: there was an ankle injury and a suspension, a shift to a deeper, more left-sided position, and he has been playing with a heavy strapping around his shoulder since Christmas. For the first time there had been flashes of irritability, frustration. But when the moment came, there he was. And so it was done.
“It’s been an unforgettable week,” Ancelotti said. It is not just Bellingham of course, and there’s something telling in the part played even by those not called to be central characters, something inescapable: Madrid’s worst footballers are most teams’ best, and yet they have found a way of avoiding many of the frustrations and faultlines that come with limited opportunities, and supposedly big egos – of which, despite appearances, there are actually surprisingly few, not least because this is Ancelotti’s group.
After a difficult start, Vinícius Júnior has 19 goals and nine assists in all competitions. Rodrygo has 17 goals and eight assists. Federico Valverde has been everything, everywhere. After the Etihad loss last season, many thought the end had come for Toni Kroos, the man Santi Cazorla says hasn’t given a ball away since the under-13s, but he has been perhaps the best midfielder in Spain. Luka Modric has played less, but if last night was his 34th and last clásico, what a way to go. They have spent almost the entire season without Thibaut Courtois, David Alaba and Éder Militão. In their absence, Antonio Rüdiger has been immense. Joselu is an alternative striker, playing more rarely but running at a goal every other game. Andriy Lunin – the backup goalkeeper they were sufficiently unsure of to sign Kepa Arrizabalaga – became their saviour, and not just in Manchester. He has the best save percentage in La Liga.
In the shootout at the Etihad last Wednesday, there he was, prepared to stand still. Nacho, Lucas Vázquez and Rüdiger, meanwhile, all scored: none of them started the same fixture last year or probably expected to at the beginning of this year. As for Lucas, the tongues wedged in cheeks when they called the right-back “Cafucas” can be taken out now. The man who spun the ball on his finger during the shootout in the Champions League final in Milan, now did a few kick- ups while he waited: and then, in both cases, scored. On Sunday he was absurd, the best player on the pitch and the first footballer in 30 years to score, assist and win a penalty in this fixture. Or, as Bellingham put it: “Lucas Vázquez, you fucking legend.”
And yet, as Madrid’s major signing, this was always going to be Bellingham’s season, and it will end with the league title – and perhaps more, a European Cup semi-final to come. The same happened with the galácticos: Luís Figo’s debut year ended with the league, Zinedine Zidane’s with the Champions League, original Ronaldo’s, another domestic title, all of which makes it sound inevitable, but David Beckham’s ended in collapse, those creaking foundations crumbling and offering a reminder that there is risk too. Bellingham’s year could hardly have gone better, to the point that it really is his, and he has been likened to all of them. To Raúl, Alfredo Di Stéfano and even Diego Maradona too after scoring that goal at Napoli. Which, he said, was “a bit too much”.
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True, and yet … it is genuinely hard to think of many men who have had a debut season at Madrid quite like this, a player who has dominated a campaign or had an impact like it. “Bellingham is the Player of the League,” AS wrote on Monday morning and, even with the recent mini-dip, it is not easy to argue. Asked last night if this was Bellingham’s season, Lucas replied: “For sure. It’s between him and Vinícius, two spectacular players. Because Jude is a surprise, maybe it tips the balance his way.”
If the last time he scored was February, that day he got two and against Girona, a victory that was a statement, a decisive step towards taking control of the title. He scored in his first three Champions League games, his first four in the league. Four times he has scored in added time: two clásicos and his home league and Champions League debuts, against Getafe and Union Berlin. It is a decade since anyone scored in both games against Barcelona – Cristiano Ronaldo, of course – and only Girona’s Artem Dovbyk has more league goals, by just one. In all competitions, he has 21 goals and 10 assists. He has played 3,190 minutes, which is probably too many, but you wouldn’t leave him out.
He came at 19 for goodness sake. “It’s just something you don’t expect, to be able to play for a team like this. So when it actually manifests itself, it’s an amazing feeling,” he said when he arrived. This is huge but it has rarely felt that way, Bellingham managing to bow before the magnitude of it all, talking like he is starstruck but never playing like it, never being cowed by it: Madrid is the biggest thing there is but, well, so what? There has been just enough arrogance to go with the impeccable manners. “The key point is that he is really mature: he is only 20 but he is more mature than his age,” Ancelotti said. “He is really professional, really serious, really humble. As a player, we’re not surprised by him but in that sense we are.”
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Athletic Bilbao 1-1 Granada
Girona 4-1 Cádiz
Valencia 1-2 Real Betis
Rayo Vallecano 2-1 Osasuna
Celta Vigo 4-1 Las Palmas
Getafe 1-1 Real Sociedad
Almería 1-2 Villarreal
Alavés 2-0 Atlético Madrid
Real Madrid 3-2 Barcelona
At times it has even felt like if anyone is starstruck, it is his colleagues. There has been a kind of deference towards him from teammates, and this is not any old team; it is the biggest of them all. They have copied his celebration when they scored and wanted in on it when he has. The warmth feels very real, the affection genuine. Last night, he posted pictures with teammates in the dressing room: “Our house,” he called it. Vinícius said he had been born to play for Madrid. “He’s a star,” Brahim Díaz said.
“To be honest I was a bit surprised but, wow, he’s a big personality in the locker room already, and that is massive,” Rüdiger admitted. “The way he has handled himself is very good. He is very much old for his age. He is professional in everything he does, he is a good lad. He has great parents doing a great job. As for his talent, there’s nothing I need to say, just hope he stays healthy.” Joselu said: “He’s a very humble lad and that has touched people, making him a very special person inside the dressing room. He’s a special player who can achieve everything that he sets his mind to.” Starting with a title in his first season in Spain, the league opening and closing in his arms.
Olivia Martin is a dedicated sports journalist based in the UK. With a passion for various athletic disciplines, she covers everything from major league championships to local sports events, delivering up-to-the-minute updates and in-depth analysis.
