They played in white, just like England, but there was no heroic Wembley defeat. There was, and with great inevitability, an unheroic victory. Real Madrid played poorly and won. Jude Bellingham played very poorly and won. And that should bode well for his country.
Real is perhaps the club closest to an international team. There is no real, true identity. No deep-seated strategy. No patterns worthy of big-screen analysis. Nothing is inverted or exaggerated. They keep it simple by letting their extroverts shine. And then, at the end of it all, they win.
They stinked things up for over an hour on Saturday night, but it wasn’t likely that those white jerseys would be tarnished by defeat. For them, the sweet smell of success was in their nostrils from the beginning.
At the age of twenty, Bellingham became only the third Englishman to win the Champions League with a foreign club. He did it with one of his worst performances of the season – let’s not dress it up in white and navy blue ribbons – but then, with seven minutes to play, he found space to make the pass to teammate Vinicius Junior to win the game. settle. .
It was a moment. A lonely moment after countless moments to forget, but the biggest games and the biggest players are often defined by that. It’s why Carlo Ancelotti left Bellingham on the pitch, when logic would have long told you he wasn’t about to hit a bull on the backside with a flamenco guitar.
Jude Bellingham (pictured) capped a fantastic season by winning the Champions League
After joining the club last summer, the 20-year-old has won three titles in his first season
Although Bellingham was disappointed, he still helped his side win their 15th European Cup
That’s why the young man was not ashamed to celebrate as if he had been in charge of the last 90 minutes and had scored both goals himself. He celebrated being a winner. It didn’t matter that he and his team had been stiff and insecure in much of what they did. They are in reality a lean winning machine that is so certain of the outcome.
And isn’t that what England is not? Lead against Croatia in 2018. Lost. Ahead against Italy in 2021. Lost. Level and rising against France in 2022. Lost. Thank God, we can even go back to the most painful night of all on the same piece of legendary land, against Germany in 1996. Heroic in defeat. Losers, all the same.
Bellingham won and added the Champions League to La Liga and the Spanish Super Cup in his debut season in Spain. He is also La Liga player of the season. Last year he won the same prize in the Bundesliga. Ironically, with Borussia Dortmund, the heroic losers of this match. Losers, all the same.
Toni Kroos, who played his last club match, was asked afterwards by Jamie Carragher about the secret of Real’s success: this is a sixth Champions League title in eleven seasons.
“You don’t lose finals,” he said. ‘That’s a good basis.’ There is simplicity in words and play. However, we should not underestimate the depth of thought.
Bellingham (centre) celebrated with his teammates at full-time at Wembley
Before the match, the midfielder had strolled around the field with an eye on victory
But the Madrid star looked tired at Wembley, which is understandable after a long season
Despite being disappointing, he still made the pass that allowed Vinicius Jnr to score their second
Bellingham, sharp in his dark suit, walked alone across the field more than an hour before kick-off. He undoubtedly had victory in mind and programmed a mentality that knew only one destination. He played like he was still wearing those dress shoes – and on some level maybe that should be a concern – but the memory of his young muscles is one of triumph.
They don’t know any different. Has there ever been an English player who was so quickly exposed to the habit of winning? Gareth Southgate can only hope this feeling will infect those exposed to Bellingham this summer.
But what about its stuttering display and some of the splendor surrounding it? He looked tired. Understandable, after a 47-game season. But there’s also a chance that some of that fatigue was mental. Project Bellingham – we hear a lot about the unity of family and professional friends around him – has been carefully managed in anticipation of this phase. No expectation, no hope. Expectation. With that comes pressure. Young Jude is the only variable in the world that exists around him.
Of course he speaks so well, with maturity and authority. But his post-match interview here felt a little contrived. He wept as he mentioned those who had doubted him. No one doubted Bellingham. Project Bellingham leaves no doubt. That is not a criticism, it has contributed to the player’s incredible resilience. But there must also be concerns. At what point does it turn into stress? Did we see it on Saturday? Or was this a completely forgivable night off?
Real is perhaps the club closest to an international team. There is no real, true identity
And Bellingham (bottom center) has been one of their standout players this season
Gareth Southgate (photo) hopes that Bellingham’s winning mentality will rub off on his England team
The Madrid superstar will now link up with his England teammates ahead of the European Championship
At one point it looked like he was holding the back of his leg. But then, during a chat with Ancelotti as play continued elsewhere, it was the head the Real boss pointed to: he wanted more control from one of his best players. There was a positional shift to a deeper role that worked to an extent, but Bellingham’s most telling contribution was still the assist for Vinicius as he prowled the edge of the Dortmund penalty area.
And that too is a mystery to Southgate. Does he play his star man in central midfield alongside Declan Rice and ask him for more discipline from deep? Or license him as number 10?
The latter lends itself more to moments, and moments make winners. Jude Bellingham and Real Madrid certainly are. When the ticker tape settles down, that’s the real, real identity.