Mark Bellingham‘s son Jude will return to England for the first time in a Real Madrid shirt when they take on Manchester City in the Champions League quarter-final.
Cheltenham-born Eric Dier, currently on-loan Bayern Munich will play in England again after leaving Tottenham Hotspur for the German giants in January – Bayern face Arsenal.
Dier’s grandfather was also Cheltenham Town’s president from 1987, a position he occupied until his untimely passing in 1992.
In a similar situation, Harry Kane will also return to the Emirates Stadium, where he saw plenty of success for Tottenham Hotspur during many North London Derby encounters.
Back to North London 👀🏴 pic.twitter.com/w2S9qj0EWS
— FC Bayern Munich (@FCBayernEN) March 15, 2024
French champions Paris Saint Germain will be up against financially-burdened Barcelona in their last eight tie whilst Borussia Dortmund are set to face Atletico Madrid, who beat Inter Milan on Wednesday night.
Real Madrid’s tie against Manchester City makes it the third successive meeting between the two sides in the competition, the Citizens beat Madrid heavily in last year’s semi-final.
Borussia Dortmund's Jude Bellingham makes his debut for England against Republic of Ireland at Wembley, aged 17. Here's his dad Mark scoring for Cheltenham Town against @EveshamUnitedFC in pre-season 1996 #ctfc pic.twitter.com/oF6TL4V3lg
— Jon Palmer (@JonPalmerSport) November 12, 2020
Jude Bellingham is likely to feature in that one, having left boyhood club Birmingham City for Borussia Dortmund in 2020.
His father Mark played for the Robins during the 1996/97 campaign and following a his journeyman non-league career, became a policeman in the West Midlands Police force.
This is the final campaign of the competition in its current state before the format change is implemented for the 2024/25 season.
From next season, 36 clubs will take part in one big league table.
The Champions League final will be held on Saturday, June 1 at Wembley Stadium but the prospect of Manchester City vs Arsenal is out of the question after they were drafted into the same side of the draw.
The winner of Paris Saint Germain/Barcelona will take on Atletico Madrid/Borussia Dortmund in the first semi-final, which will be over two legs.
Meanwhile the victor from the clash between Real Madrid/Manchester City will come up against Bayern Munich/Arsenal – meaning an all-English tie could be on the cards.
