Jude Bellingham WINS Kopa award at the 2023 Ballon d’Or just days after the 21-year-old Real Madrid superstar scored twice in his first El Clasico appearance against Barcelona on Saturday

• Jude Bellingham has won the Kopa Award at the 2023 Ballon d’Or
• Bayern Munich’s Jamal Musiala came second behind his ex-England team-mate  
• The Kopa award is presented to the best performing young player under 21

Jude Bellingham has won the 2023 Kopa Award at the Ballon d’Or as Jamal Musiala finishes runner up. 

It comes after Bellingham scored twice on Saturday to help Real Madrid come back to secure victory against Barcelona. 

Presented to the best performing player under the age of 21-years-old, Bellingham was joined by an illustrious list of nominees topping this years standings. 

The list included Man United forward Rasmus Hojlund, who impressed last year for Atalanta, scoring 16 goals for the Serie A side across all competitions. 

They were also joined by Bayern Munich youngster Musiala, 20, who has scored three goals in his past two outings for the Bundesliga champions, incluing a brace against Darmstadt at the weekend.

Barcelona’s Gavi and Pedri were both included as nominees, while Bellingham’s team-mate Eduardo Camavinga was also on the list. 

RB Leipzig star, Xavi Simons, was another addition, following his break-out season, scoring a whopping 22 goals in 48 appearances across all competitions for the German outfit. 

Speaking on his start to life at Real Madrid, Bellingham said: ‘Yeah it’s been really good. I’ve been really welcomed by everyone at the club and everyone behind the scenes. 

‘Really it’s down to them. I’m really confident in my ability but they’ve helped me extract that.’

On whether choosing the No 5 jersey was to emulate the legendary Real Madrid star, Zinedine Zidane, Bellingham said: ‘Yeah there’s a little bit of that. There wasn’t much else left to be honest. 

‘It’s a lot of pressure but it’s something that I wanted to invite onto myself and pay homage to one of my footballing idols.’

On what it feels like to join such an illustrious group of players that includes Kylian Mbappe, Matthijs de Ligt, Pedri and Gavi to have won the award, he said: ‘It’s an honour to be stood here with some of the best players in the world and some of the best players to have played the game. 

‘To win this trophy means a lot but for me most important is team trophies. Now I’ve got this one it’s important I try and kick on and help Madrid.’ 

Speaking his former England team-mate Musiala finishing runner-up, Bellingham added: ‘Yeah it’s nice because we were room-mates for England about two or three years ago and he was one of my best mates in football

‘I’m really proud of him. So always keeping in touch to see how he’s getting on. He’s a great lad and a great player.’

Musiala, who was not in attendance tonight, sent his congratulations to Bellingham via a video message: ‘Well deserved. I think we can remember not long ago that we were room-mates at England.

‘Now you’re playing for Real Madrid and I’m playing for Bayern, crazy when you think about it. I hope to see you soon and hope you have a fantastic evening.’ 

More to follow…

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