James Maddison has sent Jude Bellingham a message following Real Madrid's 1-0 win over Athletic Bilbao. Federico Valverde fired Carlo Ancelotti's side to victory at the Santiago Bernabeu on Sunday evening, finding the top left-hand corner with a brilliant strike in stoppage time.
Los Blancos returned to winning ways after crashing out of the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals. Arsenal knocked Real Madrid out of the competition on Wednesday evening, winning 5-1 on aggregate.
With six games remaining, the Spanish giants trail Barcelona by just four points in the title race. The two rivals will meet in the Copa del Rey final later this month before locking horns in La Liga at the Camp Nou on May 11.
Nevertheless, Bellingham marked the weekend's victory with a celebratory post on Instagram. Captioning a carousel of action shots from the match, the 21-year-old midfielder wrote: "So important! Wow Guacho! @fedevalverde."
Speaking to Stephen Hendry on the snooker world champion's Cue Tips series in February 2024, the Tottenham Hotspur midfielder was asked if there's much competition for his position in the England set-up.
Maddison laughed: "No, not much. Just Bellingham! He's ridiculous. So good. He's a great lad as well, Jude. I absolutely love him. For such a young kid, his mentality is like that of a 30-year-old.
"He loves footy, you know when you just know someone loves football. That's why me and him get on so well. He's just obsessed with the game and I love that about him."
A few weeks later, Maddison changed his tune after coming off the bench to set up Bellingham, who scored a 95th-minute equaliser against Belgium. The Tottenham midfielder said: "There is big competition, a lot of quality in the squad.
"You have to make sure when you are called upon, you do the business. I don't lack the confidence and belief in myself to do that. I just want that opportunity, I want that time on the pitch, because I know what I'm capable of.
"I know my quality can help this team, most definitely. I show what I have in training every day. The manager sees it. You've also got to show it, and you've also got to have the opportunity to show it. I didn't feature in the first game, which was disappointing.
"Watching on the side (against Belgium), I could see there was quite a lot of space between the lines, where I like to play, so I was thinking, 'Come on, Gareth…there's a lot of space!'"
Despite Maddison's confidence in claiming a place in the Gareth Southgate's 26-man squad for Euro 2024, he was left at home. Unlike Bellingham, the Tottenham midfielder failed to convince the former Three Lions boss during the 33-man training camp at St. George's Park prior to the tournament.