Jude Bellingham, a Real Madrid player, was one of the first to congratulate his younger brother Jobe following Sunderland’s spectacular return to the Premier League.
The Black Cats defeated Sheffield United 2-1 at Wembley to end their eight-year ban from the top division.
Tyrese Campbell’s goal in the 25th minute gave Chris Wilder’s team the lead, but a second goal was disallowed for offside.
Before Tom Watson’s last-minute goal and Eliezer Mayenda’s hammering finish gave Sunderland the win, the Blades appeared to be headed for promotion.
In scenes brimming with passion and fraternal affection, Jude Bellingham FaceTimed Jobe shortly after the full-time whistle, unable to control his pride.
‘SO F****** PROUD’ was the caption on the screenshot of the video call that the England international posted.
Jobe was a key player in Sunderland’s campaign for promotion this season and played the entire ninety minutes at Wembley on Saturday.
During the regular season, he played in 43 of the team’s 46 Championship games, providing three midfield assists and four goals.
After the victory, the 19-year-old was the center of the dressing room festivities and was completely soaked in champagne.
As teammates blasted bottles into the air, music booming and jerseys flapping overhead, Jobe was soaked in champagne inside the exuberant Sunderland dressing room.
The adolescent was the focal focus of the raucous festivities and was once seen drinking from the hollow base of a camera tripod as though it were a trophy.
Jobe told Sky Sports moments after the final whistle blew: “I always believed, you have to believe.”
“You always have to believe when you have people like that and supporters like this.”
We lost a few games, and people speak about momentum, but I always believed and I know that some people had doubts, which is understandable.
However, we performed well enough during the season, in my opinion, for people to at least give us some credit heading into the playoffs.
“The usual ‘inexperienced’ by all the former pros who talk on Sky doesn’t matter,” we’ve just demonstrated.
Naturally, you need experience. Playing a lot of games with young people like Sunderland gives you that experience.
“You gain experience through failure, and we both failed a lot before succeeding in the end.”