TWO of England’s most expensive football stars go head to head in tomorrow night’s Champions League final.
One is considered to be the best footballer in the world and the other a trouble-maker on the pitch.
Jude Bellingham, 20, more than justified the £88million transfer fee Real Madrid paid for him by scoring 23 goals this season and earning player of the year awards.
But that was not the case for Jadon Sancho, who was banished to Manchester United’s youth set- up last autumn despite the club shelling out a whopping £73million for his services.
But Jadon, who has been accused of being stroppy and not training properly, now has the opportunity for one of the greatest comeback stories in football history.
The 24-year-old winger will step out at Wembley for underdogs Borussia Dortmund, where he is currently on loan and uncertain about where he will be next season.
Just three years ago both talents were on the subs’ bench for England in the Euro 2020 final.
But manager Gareth Southgate hasn’t selected Jadon for his squad in this summer’s Euros while Bellingham is certain to start in the tournament’s games.
Here we look at how the two attackers took such different paths.
JUDE BELLINGHAM – THE GOLDEN BOY
ON the face of it, this son of a policeman from Stourbridge in the West Midlands could not be more different to his big-match rival Jadon Sancho.
Jude Bellingham’s Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti described him as “serious, professional and mature”.
He is the favourite to win this year’s coveted Ballon d’Or prize for the best player in Europe, and has already been named the top footballer in Spain this season.
In his first campaign at Real, who have been crowned champions of Europe a record 14 times, he won the country’s league title and netted 23 times.
That’s an incredible total for a 20-year-old midfielder.
Even his private life seems to be perfect.
Jude is reportedly dating 25-year-old Dutch model Laura Celia Valk, who has become a regular part of his Madrid lifestyle.
The stunning blonde boasts nearly 500,000 followers on Instagram and has posed for a string of brands, including PrettyLittleThing and Lipsy.
Their relationship follows his split from Instagram model Asantewa Chitty last year.
It’s very special for me to play this game, but we have to try to put the emotions to one side
Jude Bellingham
Bellingham owns a £156,000 black BMW SUV and lives in a luxurious gated estate in the upmarket La Finca area of Spain’s capital.
The handsome star has been courted by the biggest brands, modelling for swanky fashion label Gucci and becoming a brand ambassador for Adidas’s Predator football boots.
Undoubtedly, though, his focus remains on the beautiful game.
Bellingham does not court attention, isn’t seen falling out of nightclubs and isn’t one to talk about his private life.
Keeping his feet planted firmly on the lush green turf are his parents.
Mum Denise, 55, moved with him to Madrid, sometimes acting as his chauffeur and also making his bed.
Ex-cop dad Mark, 47, is his agent and has been helping manage his son’s career since he was a youth star at Birmingham.
Bellingham displayed a mature approach when talking about tonight’s final, admitting: “It’s very special for me to play this game, but we have to try to put the emotions to one side.”
But in a couple of ways, Jude and Jadon have some things in common.
They both signed for Borussia Dortmund as teenagers rather than risk ending up on the bench of a moneybags Premier League side.
Bellingham, who made his league debut for Birmingham City aged just 16 in 2019, was courted by Manchester City, Manchester United and Liverpool among others.
Instead, the next year, just like Sancho, he joined the top German team.
He has also been known to speak his mind rather than simply towing the party line.
Bellingham was fined by the German Football Association in 2021 after criticising a referee in a big match between Dortmund and rivals Bayern Munich.
He said: “You give a referee, that has match-fixed before, the biggest game in Germany. What do you expect?”
Earlier this year, there were allegations that Bellingham had called ex-Manchester United forward Mason Greenwood a “rapist” during a game in the Spanish league.
Greenwood’s side Getafe reportedly asked that the apparent dig — which referred to a charge against the striker which prosecutors later dropped — be placed in the referee’s official match report.
Following a LaLiga probe into the alleged slur, the accusations were dismissed amid reports it could not be proven what Bellingham had said.
JADON SANCHO – COMEBACK KID
IT was something of an understatement when Jadon Sancho said this week it is “crazy” that he will be playing in tomorrow night’s Champions League final.
The South Londoner went from one of the game’s most sought-after footballers to exiled from his own squad last September.
It came after strict Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag said publicly that Sancho had not been picked for the side that lost 3-1 to Arsenal due to his “performances in training”.
The forward was banished from the first team and made to train alone at the youth academy.
He wasn’t even allowed into the canteen and had to eat his meals from a lunchbox.
Earlier this year, he left Old Trafford on loan to return to former club Borussia Dortmund.
The player had hit back at ten Hag’s “performance” accusation on social media, insisting that it was “completely untrue” and claiming he was being made a “scapegoat” by the struggling club.
His gaffer demanded an apology but Sancho refused, preferring to spend four months in exile instead.
This week, one of Man Utd’s coaching staff, Benni McCarthy, said Sancho, 24, had told him, “I ain’t apologising, because if I do I’m apologising for being lazy, always being late and not giving my best”.
Which he didn’t think was true. Off the pitch, Sancho was filmed partying with Nigerian model and dancer Cocainna, 26.
And it wasn’t the first time he had been accused of taking his eye off the ball.
During his first spell at Dortmund, Sancho didn’t show up on time for a training session ahead of a key game, and was also suspended by the club for coming home late from international duty.
As a 17-year-old youth player at Manchester City, he refused to return to training, reportedly in a bid to force a move away from the club.
Benni thinks that Sancho didn’t give in to ten Hag’s demand because, “from the streets, no one wants to apologise”.
The controversial player grew up on a housing estate in Kennington, raised by his hard-working parents.
And he emphasised his attitude to the game ahead of tonight’s big match, revealing: “I grew up with cage football and it’s always been with me.
“Every time I go on the pitch, I always try and do the skills I do in the cage.”
Calling him lazy may be unfair as, when Jadon was still at school, he travelled from South London to Watford most days to train with their youth team.
He then left home at 14 to be closer to the Hertfordshire club and, a year later, he joined Manchester City.
I grew up with cage football and it’s always been with me
Jadon Sancho
The ambitious youngster wasn’t happy with a £30,000-a-week pay cheque just to play in City’s reserves.
He’d been named player of the tournament at the under-17s Euros for England and decided to switch to Dortmund in the hope of getting first team game time.
His stunning performances in Germany saw him picked for England, and he came off the bench as a sub in the Euro 2020 final against Italy.
But his failure to convert a penalty, with Marcus Rashford and Bukayo Saka also missing, cost the national team the match.
Even though he fell out with Man Utd, he has remained good pals with many England stars, including Jude Bellingham — who he described as a “friend.”
Whatever tonight’s result, the fact that Sancho is on the biggest stage in club football is a huge turnaround.
As he said: “It’s kind of crazy . . . me being in the Champions League final, especially where I came from. I’m just happy.”