Jude Bellingham Benar Memilih Real Madrid Dibanding Manchester City

JAKARTA - The last few days in La Liga talked a lot about Jude Bellingham, how to interpret and punish his harsh words which resulted in a red card in a 1-1 draw against Osasuna, Saturday, February 15, 2025.

However, not many have considered how hard and how long Manchester City's manager, Pep Guardiola, has been cursing at the brilliant English player for the past few years. You could say, turning the air blue.

Manchester City and Real Madrid will meet again on Thursday, February 20, 2025, early morning WIB, in the playoff of the decisive Champions League knockout. Los Blancos took home a 3-2 lead in the first leg of Etihad.

Guardiola undoubtedly still condemns that Bellingham, who scored Real Madrid's winning goal at Etihad last week, will be wearing white clothes instead of Manchester City's color, as he wanted.

In January 2023, a source close to Guardiola revealed that 100 percent of Manchester City had only two main transfer targets that summer, namely RB Leipzig defender Josko Gvardiol and Borussia Dortmund midfielder Bellingham.

The Croatian defender joined. In Manchester City's three games against Real Madrid since then, he has shined with one goal and one assist.

However, Bellingham refused the reigning Premier League champions. He chose not to work for one of the greatest football coaches of all time, Guardiola (the opportunity he will never get again).

The 21-year-old has chosen a well-known club that is very demanding and political, where its language and culture are completely new to this incredibly talented and ambitious magic boy.

Bellingham almost confirmed that Manchester City had given him a lucrative offer.

"Based on the direction of my family, I spoke with many clubs in my final season at Dortmund. However, when Real Madrid called, I didn't have to think twice," Bellingham said at the time.

Although there is still a chance for Manchester City to retaliate and equalize on Thursday, Bellingham's choice is quite good when compared to his luck with Guardiola.

Bellingham has brought Real Madrid to the defending champions La Liga and Champions League for the third time since 1958.

While The Citizens have not only experienced a decline in their Champions League status this season, but also their dominance in the UK.

The moment Bellingham chose Real Madrid over Manchester City became a significant change in power balance. However, not only on the pitch.

It is undeniable at Manchester City that their efforts to convince the best football players, especially if they are already at the top, to come and live in Manchester City with a harsh climate and how far away from other European capitals is, is very difficult.

They are extraordinary in terms of offers, how to offer them, and in terms of promising extraordinary treatment.

However, the number one extra element, outside of salary, is Guardiola himself.

The appeal of working under him and successfully mastering the style of football that has been linked to him in the Premier League has proven to be very captivating over and over again. However, not for Bellingham.

There are hints about the reason after he scored his first Champions League goal for Los Blancos, in injury time, in a 1-0 win over Union Berlin earlier last season.

He said that he was lucky enough to have television in his bedroom since he was about 12 or 13 years old.

He has seen Real Madrid rise to victory in an unbelievable situation over and over again.

It was at such times that the young man turned away from the British champions (Manchester City) and chose a different legend, history, tradition and attraction of glory (Real Madrid).

This isn't the first time Real Madrid have snatched away the talent they really wanted from Manchester City.

Another best example, given Cristiano Ronaldo had starred at Old Trafford before he broke the world record at the time to move to Bernabeu, was Gareth Bale.

Unlike Bellingham, who was still a talented young player when he joined Ancelotti's side, the Wales winger was an established and desired star by most of the world's top clubs as he left Tottenham Hotspur.

Manchester United still had Ryan Giggs as their coaching staff at the time. He called his international teammates privately, promising that the Red Devils would pay Spurs for the same transfer fee and would even give Bale a higher salary than Real Madrid had offered, but the answer was still not.

Bale and Bellingham actively voted for Real Madrid - something Ronaldo did during his last year when, even though Manchester United and Real Madrid had agreed to the fee, Sir Alex Ferguson demanded that the Portugal captain stay for one more season.

That's when Barcelona's then Vice President, Ferran Soriano, who has now long been a major executive at Manchester City, immediately met Ronaldo and his agent to offer a better salary if they leave Madrid and come to Barcelona at the end of the season.

Just like Bale and Bellingham, Ronaldo refused because his uncandidate choice was playing for Real Madrid.

No one can pretend that it happened because Real Madrid had won so many La Liga titles or Copa del Rey.

If the salary issue is the same, many of the world's elite stars will choose Real Madrid over other places. That's because luxury and glory are unbearable and inherent.

Anyone who is young enough to play professional football has never seen Real Madrid lose in the European tournament finals.

In fact, there are a lot of fans and journalists who have never seen it - the last time it happened 42 years ago.

Now, Bellingham has the opportunity to further underline, to himself and to anyone interested, that he chose his current club over Manchester City for the next stage of his career.

There are only two teams he fights more often than Manchester City, namely Bayern Munich and Union Berlin. Just last week he really knew what it was like to win against The Citizens.

He played and scored against them (Bayern Munich and Union Berlin) at the age of 17 as he tried six times to beat them but failed, with his team-mates at Borussia Dortmund.

Last season, although the penalty he executed on penalties helped Los Blancos enter the Champions League semi-finals, technically it was another draw against Bayern Munich (after 90 and then 120 minutes) after three defeats and two draws.

This Thursday he will face Guardiola's team. Bellingham's last-minute goal became the difference.

With the fight over the controversial red card continuing, the entire Bernabeu still wanted to sing "Hey Jude" once again. It's time for Bellingham to appear again.