That one’s going straight in a frame: Jude Bellingham standing before the sheer red wall of the noisiest stand of the most emblematic ground in Spain, the place they call the cathedral, arms spread wide, taking it all in. He was just 36 minutes into his debut for Real Madrid and the Englishman already had his first goal and the photo to go with it. The new man and his new teammates, running to join him: Aurélien Tchouaméni, then Dani Carvajal, then Vinícius Júnior, and then the rest of them, all in white. So this is what it’s like.
This is what he’s like too. The friendlies impressed, but this was the real thing, at a real stadium redolent with history and tradition, few better places to start. Away, sure, but this is a classic, against Athletic Bilbao, one of only three teams never relegated. It was marked with an assured 2-0 win, a clean sheet for Andriy Lunin, standing in for the injured Thibaut Courtois, at least until Kepa Arrizabaga arrives on loan, and a debut goal for Bellingham delivered early.
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