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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
/ | |
How a 20-year-old Englishman fueled Real Madrid’s record-extending La | |
Liga title and became one of the world’s best players | |
By Issy Ronald, CNN | |
Updated: | |
4:43 AM EDT, Mon May 6, 2024 | |
Source: CNN | |
celebrated winning his first ever title with his mother, posting a | |
picture on Instagram of the two hugging with the legendary Santiago | |
Bernabéu Stadium stretching out behind them. | |
Such an unassuming image is befitting of how the 20-year-old presents | |
himself to the world, how he has impressed in his first year at Real | |
Madrid both on and off the pitch, and how he is praised for his | |
maturity and leadership skills as well as his talent on the pitch. | |
Underneath the picture, his Real Madrid teammate Rodrygo had commented: | |
“First league of many.” | |
Already known as one of soccer’s brightest young talents from his | |
time at Borussia Dortmund, Bellingham has cemented his status as one of | |
the sport’s biggest names during his first season at Real Madrid, | |
becoming the star within a team already packed with stars. | |
The midfielder is now one of the early favorites to take this year’s | |
Ballon d’Or trophy, has become beloved among the Madridistas, and has | |
even perfected his own iconic goalscoring celebration, standing towards | |
the crowd with his arms outstretched, soaking up the applause. | |
That stance has become a familiar sight in La Liga this season as | |
Bellingham netted an impressive 18 league goals, including late winners | |
in both key El Clásico matches against Barcelona, the first of which | |
was hailed by manager Carlo Ancelotti as the key point in deciding this | |
year’s title race. | |
“Everyone expected us to slip up and we didn’t slip up,” he told | |
Realmadrid TV. “Bellingham’s goal against Barcelona gave us the | |
advantage. We had a lot of continuity from the first to the last | |
game.” | |
When Bellingham joined Real Madrid, expectations were high for the | |
young Englishman. | |
The club had just lost its longtime talisman Karim Benzema, missed out | |
on signing Kylian Mbappé once again and was recovering from an | |
underwhelming season – by its own lofty standards – in which it was | |
hammered by Manchester City in the Champions League semifinals and | |
finished 10 points behind Barcelona in the league. | |
But nobody could have predicted the impact Bellingham had from the very | |
beginning of his time in the Spanish capital. He scored 10 goals in his | |
first 10 games, won La Liga’s player of the month for August and | |
quickly displayed his knack of finding late winners, rescuing Real late | |
on against Getafe in September. | |
“Jude Bellingham, the complete Galactico,” read a headline from | |
Spanish newspaper Marca in December above an article that compared him | |
to the best elements of other Real Madrid marquee signings like David | |
Beckham, Cristiano Ronaldo and Zinedine Zidane. | |
It isn’t just his goalscoring that has proven so effective for Real | |
Madrid. He has contributed 10 assists this season, and his influence in | |
the dressing room has been compared to that of Zidane by TNT Sports | |
pundit and former Real Madrid player Steve McManaman. (TNT Sports, like | |
CNN, is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery.) | |
Despite Bellingham’s fast start to his Real Madrid career, his form | |
dropped off a little from its early heights at the beginning of the | |
season, and he admitted in a press conference in April that an injury | |
and suspension after a red card had affected his “rhythm.” | |
“My role has changed slightly,” he added. “There’s been little | |
things I’ve had to tweak and it means I’ve had to maybe do a bit | |
more work for the team which I absolutely don’t mind doing but maybe | |
I lose that effectiveness on the pitch.” | |
Nonetheless, he has still found a way to be effective at crucial points | |
– hitting that injury-time winner against Barcelona in April and | |
producing an impressive cameo appearance against Cádiz on Saturday to | |
show his continuing potency. | |
“I would say that Madrid feels like home now,” he told CNN’s | |
Amanda Davies in April. “I feel like I have a familiar kind of | |
connection with the fans and the people.So, yeah, really happy.” | |
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