How Jude Bellingham exemplifies Real Madrid’s team-first mentality in winning Champions League title

As Real Madrid won their 15th Champions League title on Saturday against Borussia Dortmund, one of the crucial players in it was none other than Jude Bellingham whose assist on the clinching goal was quite a way to cap off what has been an excellent debut season at the club. Now winning his first Champions League title after also winning La Liga and being in the running for the Golden Boot, Bellingham has had one of the most impressive debut seasons for a club behind his former teammate Erling Haland of Manchester City.

While Bellingham didn’t score the goals of the Norwegian, he’s also supposed to be a deep-lying midfielder who got pushed to be a false nine for Real Madrid which wasn’t something that he enjoyed but it was what the club needed at the moment. 

“It’s not enough to be a football player who only plays in one position. I think the CIty game when I was more or less playing as a false nine, having to hold up the ball, it was horrible,” Bellingham said to CBS Sports after the final. “I hated it, but you have to do it because the coach asks, and it helps the team and if it means in the end you get to enjoy nights like this then I’ll play whatever position that I have to.”

In all competitions, Bellingham scored 23 goals and assisted 13 more which, depending on how things go for England at the Euros, can put him firmly in the conversation for a Ballon d’Or this year. At only 20 years of age, he has exceeded expectations at every step which makes it hard to judge what his ceiling is as he keeps raising it by the year, and at Real Madrid, if you do that, the sky is the limit. 

“All year they’re talking about how many Champions Leagues that they’ve won and you can’t really contribute to the conversation and now it’s similar because they’ll all be talking about six and seven and what else,” Bellingham said. “You know, it’s a constant reminder to keep going. You can settle in and be happy with the one or you can try and aim for more and I think that’s the level that this club requires.”

From that statement, it’s clear to see what makes Real Madrid great. This is a team of winners from top to bottom and they will do nothing but push for more success. After winning a trophy there’s a time for celebrating that achievement but after, it’s time to get to work on the next trophy and they do just that. It’s why Real Madrid have won six Champions League titles since 2013-14 and it’s why they’ll continue to stay at the top.

With Kylian Mbapppe joining during the summer, what can’t this club do under Carlo Ancelotti? They’ve done well at balancing the present with the future which keeps Los Blancos at the top.