Rashford and Bellingham face off in El Classico

It isn’t often you get a “first” in El Clasico. Not when Real Madrid and Barcelona have been battling for more than a century, and not after Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi completely reconfigured the rivalry’s statistical categories.

There will be one during Sunday’s match at Estadio Santiago Bernabeu (10:15 a.m., TSN3).

For the very first time, a pair of Englishmen will go head-to-head in club football’s most famous contest. On the home side: Madrid’s Jude Bellingham, born in Stourbridge in the West Midlands. On the guests’: Barca’s Marcus Rashford, born in Manchester.

Both are England internationals. Both are coming off disappointing seasons. Both scored midweek in the Champions League. Both have well-known attitude problems.

Either one could be the hero on La Liga’s 10th matchday of the campaign.

Yes, there are some obvious similarities between the two, but in no way are they mirror images of each other.

Bellingham, who turned 22 during the summer, won a league and Champions League double as a 20-year-old, after which he finished third in Ballon d’Or voting. As part of the England team that finished runner-up at Euro 2024, his stoppage-time equalizer prevented a round of 16 embarrassment against Slovakia.

In 2023, he became the 11th most expensive player of all time when he joined Real Madrid from Borussia Dortmund for €103 million.

Over the same period, Rashford was omitted from the Euro squad and scored 11 Premier League goals for Manchester United and two more for Aston Villa, which he joined on loan in January. Banished from United training during pre-season, he was loaned to Barcelona in July.

The Catalans have the option of signing the 27-year-old permanently for a cut-rate fee of €35 million — about what Nottingham Forest paid for James McAtee.

Reading the tale of the tape, it might seem as though Bellingham has the advantage ahead of El Clasico. Five years Rashford’s junior, he’s already accomplished more than his countryman and still has time – a lot of it – to bury a rather unsavoury reputation.

And yet, he hasn’t played for England since a 3-1 loss to Senegal four months ago. Rightfully citing the midfielder’s shoulder problem, which required surgery, Three Lions boss Thomas Tuchel left Bellingham out of September’s squad for World Cup qualifying. He didn’t call him up for this month’s matches, either, and it wasn’t because of the shoulder.

Back in June, Tuchel told the BBC that Bellingham’s “explosion towards referees and the anger in his game” needed to be channeled into productive energy. He added his mother found the player’s behaviour “repulsive.”

If Bellingham takes the lesson, he should meet or exceed the standard he set two seasons ago when he scored 23 goals and was named La Liga’s MVP. On Wednesday, following his goal-scoring performance against Juventus, Madrid manager Xabi Alonso called him “one of the most complete players in the world.”

Rashford is another story. Actually, he’s several stories – at least two of which have played out in the few months he’s been at Barcelona.

First off, his very presence in Spain is due to a breakdown in the relationship with boyhood club Manchester United. One could make the case that Red Devils head coach Ruben Amorim, who took over the Premier League outfit 11 months ago, was never well-disposed to the forward to begin with, but the fact is Rashford’s performance over a two-year span was always going to result in his exit.

In recent comments made on The Good, The Bad & The Football podcast, United legend Paul Scholes condemned Rashford’s “disgraceful” demeanour and alleged he’d “quit on United.”

September reports in Spain suggested Barcelona had already soured on the player as well, with El Nacional claiming the loan would be terminated early and Rashford “lacked spark,” barely participated” and had “difficulties associating with his teammates.”

In his first full appearance for the Blaugrana, Rashford was hauled off at half time. In late September he was punished for arriving late to training. He said he’d slept in.

And yet, he scored twice against Newcastle in the Champions League — and was named Man of the Match — and followed up the display with assists in three consecutive games. In the fourth, he scored at Sevilla. On Tuesday, he scored twice more against Olympiacos.

This is a striker, don’t forget, who bagged 30 goals in 2022-23. It’s also the one Barcelona hopes shows up on Sunday.

For all their challenges, for all their faults, both Bellingham and Rashford go into El Clasico in their best form of the season. Together, the two Englishmen will make it a unique “first” in the rivalry’s history.

Individually, they’re also working on themselves. The player who makes the biggest difference at the Bernabeu could well be the one who’s done the better job of it.

jerradpeters@gmail.com

jerradpeters.bsky.social