Bellingham shows off his now iconic celebration for their UCL final portraits

Real Madrid go in search of a record-extending 15th Champions League title next month and ahead of the Wembley showpiece, Jude Bellingham and his team-mates have posed for official portraits.

Carlo Ancelotti’s side have the opportunity to cap off a superb season that has already seen them wrestle the LaLiga title from their rivals Barcelona, while the Italian coach bids to extend another landmark achievement of his own and win the European Cup for a fifth time.

However, standing in their way are Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund, who last featured in the Champions League final more than a decade ago when the event was last hosted in London.

The occasion will be the swansong for Dortmund legend Marco Reus, as well as his compatriot and Los Blancos midfielder Toni Kroos, who announced he will be retiring after this summer’s European Championships.

Madrid stars embraced the pageantry and media glare that accompanies the biggest game in club football, with the Bellingham reenacting his now iconic goal celebration ahead of the meeting against his old side.

The English superstar has enjoyed a phenomenal debut season in the Spanish capital following a £113million move from Dortmund. He has racked up 35 goal contributions in 40 appearances in all competitions.

Four of Bellingham’s goals have come in Europe this season and he has also laid on four assists for his team-mates in the competition. Though, the 20-year-old is yet to find the net in the knockout stages.

That goalscoring load has fallen on the shoulders of Vinicius Jr, who was the matchwinner for Madrid in their 2022 win over Liverpool in Paris. The Brazilian has 34 goal contributions to his name in only 37 appearances in all competitions.

His efforts rescued a draw in the semi-final first-leg and he proved to be a constant threat down the left flank in the second match-up .

Wembley is set to host the European Cup final for the eighth time, that last of which took place in 2013 when Bayern Munich defeat Borussia Dortmund 2-1 in an all-Germany affair.

Madrid progressed to the June 1 date after a 4-3 aggregate win over Bayern. The Spanish giants were minutes away from crashing out of the competition before former Newcastle and Stoke City striker Joselu came off the bench to net late goals at the Bernabeu.

Los Blancos still have one league game left to play before the final in London. Ancelotti’s side welcome Real Betis on Saturday night. Having secured the title with three games left to play, the former Chelsea manager has rotated his squad for the win against Alaves and draw against Villarreal.

Ancelotti has almost his entire first team roster to chose from for the fixture. First-choice stopper Thibaut Courtois has returned from injury and played in three of the last four league games, though he sat out both legs of the Champions League semi-final.

The Madrid boss is reportedly set to give the Belgian, who missed the entire season due to a torn ACL, followed by a setback with a meniscus injury, the nod in London. Backup goalkeeper Andriy Lunin stepped up in his absence and completed some heroic performances during the campaign.

His form saw Chelsea loanee Kepa Arrizabalaga demoted, having only been signed last summer to deputise for Courtois.

The Spanish giants will be without David Alaba, who suffered an ACL injury in December, while Aurelien Tchouameni is a doubt after picking up a foot injury in the semi-final first leg.

Ancelotti opened up on another of his selection headaches ahead of their Madrid’s LaLiga fixture last weekend, revealing that Eder Militao, who has also recently returned following an ACL injury, is in contention to start the final.

‘It could be that he starts in the final, he is close to 100 per cent,’ he told reporters. ‘He was missing minutes and he is taking them. He will play tomorrow and I see him very close to his best level. It is an option that we have.’

Related articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *