Former Borussia Dortmund teammates and DFB Pokal winners Erling Haaland and Jude Bellingham battled it out in the World Cup quarterfinals between England and Norway, and whlie the game was tense and evenly matched through most of it, the Three Lions eventually imposed themselves and won the match 2-1 in extra time.
Although the pre match hype focused on Harry Kane and Haaland as a side by side comparison as they are the two best pure No. 9's in world football, Bellingham stole the show again, recording his second straight brace in the knockouts to join elite company with Diego Armando Maradona again.
Bellingham and Haaland had a few shows of respect during the game an then a warm embrace afterwards, rekindling the memories during their time together at the Bundesliga's most beloved club. Haaland's father has not ruled out a move to Real Madrid, which may have been the goal the duo hatched together while at Dortmund.
Erling Haaland still has love for Jude Bellingham
Haaland has been making nice with Vinicius Junior, too, as he winks at the Merengues, and he shared more formal words of praise for his old Dortmund teammate. The Norwegian striker graciously praised the England superstar after the match to reporters, via Fabrizio Romano, “Real Madrid and England are lucky to have Jude Bellingham, and everyone want Jude Bellingham on their team. He's one of the best players in the world”.
If there were England fans taking Jude Bellingham for granted before the 2026 World Cup, they have all either changed their minds or been silenced, as the hateful media campaign against Jude has dissipated while records fall and goals are scored in important moments by arguably the greatest big game player in world football today.
There may be some lingering Real Madrid fans who are not on board the Bellingham hype train, but given how brilliant he was in his first season in 2023/24 when Los Blancos last won the La Liga and Champions League trophies, the only people really going against Jude are not true Madridistas anyway ; they are a certain form of cultists elevating one individual above the rest.
Bellingham is showing how great he is on the world stage, and as Haaland implies, no true fan of the England national team or Real Madrid would dare underrate him. He is easily one of the world's best, and he may be stating his case for being THE best.
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