Jude Bellingham, who was instrumental in Real Madrid’s 5-1 thumping of RB Salzburg, has tied one of Lionel Messi’s illustrious Champions League records.
Madrid has been dominating the La Liga standings since the beginning of the season, and the England international seems to have put his early season setbacks behind him.
But the defending champions have had a difficult season in the redesigned Champions League, and they sorely needed to defeat Salzburg to have a chance of automatically making it to the knockout stages.
Madrid, who are now 16th in the Champions League standings, will need to play in a playoff match to advance to the next round of the competition if they don’t place in the top eight.
Bellingham plays a key role in those efforts and is now breaking through rival defenses after being granted more creative license to move up the pitch than Carlo Ancelotti had previously allowed.
As Madrid dominated the match in the first half against Salzburg, Bellingham recorded two assists and chipped in both of Rodrygo’s goals.
With those assists, Bellingham tied Barcelona and Argentina great Lionel Messi for the most goals scored by players under 21 in the Champions League.
At 21 years, 6 months, and 24 days, the Madrid sensation has now contributed 24 Champions League goals.
During his breakout years at Barcelona, Messi previously recorded 17 goals and seven assists while he was 21 years of age or younger.
But those records have previously been broken by two well-known personalities, one of whom plays with Bellingham at Madrid.
Second in the standings is Manchester City’s Erling Haaland, who scored 26 goals before turning 22.
The record for the most contributions under 21 is held by Kylian Mbappe, who scored once in Madrid’s triumph over Salzburg. At the same age, he previously managed 37.
Bellingham has scored 32 goals and provided 22 assists since joining the Santiago Bernabeu in the summer of 2023.
His outstanding performances during the previous season were essential to Madrid’s wins in both La Liga and the Champions League during his first season in Spain.