ARMS splayed like Christ the Redeemer, Jude Bellingham’s trademark goal celebration is met with hysteria by the Real Madrid faithful.
Moments later, his anthem is bouncing from the rafters of sporting cathedral the Santiago Bernabeu.
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“Na, na, na, na na na na, na na na na, Hey Jude!” some 80,000 sing in a throaty rendition of The Beatles’ 1968 anthem.
Clutching a scarf bearing the legend, “Hey Jude — from Birmingham to the Bernabeu”, dentist Nitya Nandi, 30, tells me: “I love Bellingham. Madrid loves Bellingham.”
Visiting Englishmen Jack Smith, 22, and Christian McGarr, 24, made the pilgrimage from Darlington, Co Durham, to pay homage to world football’s latest superstar.
Newcastle supporter Christian, a toolmaker, said: “We came over for Bellingham, the best English player since Gazza.”
Madrid, which has seen its share of footballing gods, is gripped by Bellimania.
In just five months, the England midfielder has become the brightest star at the biggest club in the world.
At a gala ceremony for Europe’s best young player in Turin, Italy, on Monday, Jude was named Golden Boy by sports journalists and picked up a second award for being most popular with online fans.
As Jude collected his trophies, he grinned at a group of youngsters in the audience mimicking his trademark goal celebration.
The 20-year-old has shredded the record books after continually finding the net with what are known here as “Belligols”.
Home in the ‘bunker’
On November 26, he broke a club record after scoring 14 goals in his first 15 games.
That is one more than Los Blancos icons Alfredo Di Stefano, who played in the Fifties and Sixties, and Cristiano Ronaldo.
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Last week, a superb header against Napoli saw Jude become the first Real Madrid player to score in his first four Champions League games.
Little wonder the policeman’s son from Stourbridge, West Mids, with model good looks and Hollywood charisma, is being feted like a rock star in the Spanish capital.
Last week I was given an up-close taste of Bellimania after I watched him train then spoke to the fanatical fans of the world’s richest club.
Jude may be what Madrid fans call a Galactico (superstar player), but off the pitch he remains under the watchful eye of his mum Denise, 55, who lives with her eldest son in the city.
Club sources say she “helps him, advises him” and also takes him to training. At times, she has also helped him dress and make his bed.
A video showed Denise giving her lad a hand with his bow tie as he got ready for October’s Ballon d’Or gala, recognising the best players in the game.
In his West Midlands accent, Jude said: “All of them people say, ‘Oh, he’s so mature’, and I can’t even get changed on my own. My life’s a lie!”
Last year at the Qatar World Cup, England defender Conor Coady revealed how Jude had been ribbed after admitting Denise still made his bed.
Jude, who left first club Birmingham City for Germany’s Borussia Dortmund in 2020, before this year’s £88million move to Spain, has said: “My mum is the queen, the boss.”
His dad Mark, 47, a former cop and non-league footballer, acts as agent for Jude and his younger brother, Sunderland’s Jobe.
When Jude signed for Madrid, he lived at a top hotel.
Now he and Denise are said to have moved to the exclusive La Finca gated estate, home to top footballers, actors, TV stars and millionaire businessmen.
Visiting La Finca, a 15-minute drive from the city centre, last week it’s easy to see why many describe it as a “bunker”.
Built amid pine trees with homes that can be valued at £9million, it bristles with security.
Jude has hired chef Alberto Mastromatteo to take care of him.
Lean meats, rice, quinoa, oats, fish, natural yoghurts, low-fat fresh cheese, vegetables and fruit make up the bulk of his diet, say local reports.
Alberto said Jude is given a day and a half’s freedom from the regime, adding: “He loves chips. At the end of the day, they’re 20-year-old boys.”
I watched Jude — who is also learning the language — training at the club’s complex on the city’s outskirts.
The youngster belies his years with his confident authority among a team of seasoned internationals.
Former Real centre-back Fabio Cannavaro said of Jude: “That guy entered the locker room and banged on the table saying, ‘Here I am, I’m in charge here’. He impresses me.”
Afterwards, I was able to ask coach Carlo Ancelotti how well the Englishman was adapting to Spanish culture.
The former Chelsea and Everton manager told me: “Bellingham is serious, professional and mature, so he can adapt really well.
“The most important part is that he’s a fantastic player — and fantastic players can adapt everywhere.”
Fans from as far afield as China, the US and Australia gathered to catch a glimpse of Belli — as his team-mates call him — leaving training.
The sight of his black £156,000 BMW SUV inching towards the throng sparks shrieks of excitement.
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Little Ella Vidales held up a home-made sign saying, “Bellingham, please sign my shirt”.
Her prayers were answered. Jude’s mum Denise, on chauffeur duties, gently eased the hybrid to the kerb.
Sitting in the back seat, her superstar son was soon engulfed by the throng of fans offering up shirts for signatures and wanting selfies.
Nine-year-old Ella, from Ibiza, got both, saying: “This is my dream. Jude is the greatest.”
Her dad Lucas, 37, added: “Bellingham carries the team on his back, but he’s so humble and close to the people.”
Jose Maria Luque, 69, from Huelva, in southern Spain, had brought his Bellingham-crazy grandson Pablo Marcias, seven, to catch a glimpse of the star.
“He used to be a big Ronaldo fan, but now it’s Bellingham he adores,” Jose said.
Ten-year-old Teo Georgiev shrieked with delight after Bellingham signed his shirt.
His mum Gigi, 38, from Barcelona, revealed: “Bellingham was the only player who stopped to sign autographs for the children.
“He’s a real gentleman.”
Jude signed every shirt and posed for every selfie.
While at Dortmund, he said: “I’ll sign whatever. If however many kids want a picture, I’ll do them all.
“It’s half an hour to make someone’s day. What is that really? What else would I be doing?”
Under Denise’s watchful eye, it appears Jude has not been tempted by Madrid’s party scene.
In his early days at the club, mother and son enjoyed a meal at upmarket Cantonese restaurant Bao Li — a haunt of celebrities and politicians — in central Madrid.
Its manager Jose Luis told me: “They seemed like lovely people, very polite and respectful.”
Match day in Madrid has turned into a Bellingham love-in.
Outside the Bernabeu, which looms over Madrid like Rome’s Colosseum, Ana Garcia, 19, is selling must-have Bellingham scarves for 10 euros.
“He’s the best — and very handsome,” she replies when asked why he is so popular.
Fans gathering around the famous old stadium, most with Bellingham and his No5 on the back of their shirts, had come from every corner of the globe.
Like the Hernandez family from Bela Cruz, Mexico. Mum-of-two Maria, 35, said: “We have flown all this way to see Bellingham.”
Jude is just the seventh British male player to star for Real Madrid, following Laurie Cunningham, Steve McManaman, David Beckham, Michael Owen, Jonathan Woodgate and Gareth Bale.
Estate agent Kike Faura, 32, from Malaga, insists: “Bellingham is better than Beckham and Bale. He’s the future of Real Madrid.”
Jude’s Belligol celebration — mimicked by adoring fans — has become an internet viral meme.
Set to an earworm soundtrack of Brazilian sports commentator Rogerio Vaughan bellowing, “Belligol, Bellingham, it’s him”, the stance has been compared to the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio, Brazil — as well as a startled anteater and a bird with its wings outstretched.
Clubbers were pictured doing the Belligol on a packed dancefloor in a TikTok video seen 3.4million times.
Demonstrating the celebration, media consultant Mathias Jorstad, 19, revealed: “Everyone knows it. It’s gone all over the world.”
The fan from Harstad, Norway, added: “I love Bellingham’s style of play, he’s good with the media and he seems very likeable.”
Jude is a marketing department’s dream.
The Real Madrid club shop sells an adult strip with Bellingham’s name for 195 euros — almost £170. And it was doing brisk business.
Brand Bellingham could be as potent as the Beckham phenomenon.
Jude has already modelled for Gucci. On Wednesday last week he turned in another dazzling performance against Napoli.
There were balletic turns, tough tackling, incisive runs into the box — and that pinpoint headed finish.
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Turning to his adoring public with arms outstretched, he gave them the Belligol they demanded.
From Birmingham to King of the Bernabeu in just three years.
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