England’s Jadon Sancho and Jude Bellingham to meet in Champions League final

Arsenal and Manchester City may have fallen at the quarter-final stage, but there is still set to be plenty of English interest in the Champions League final this season.

Not only will Wembley play host to the showpiece event of European club football when Borussia Dortmund face Real Madrid on June 1, but in Jadon Sancho and Jude Bellingham, there are England players hoping for victory on home soil.

Here, the PA news agency looks at how they have fared abroad having left English football to make their mark on the continent.

Jadon Sancho

Borussia Dortmund
Appearances this season: 18
Goals: 3

Sancho returned to his previous club on loan this season after a high-profile falling out with Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag. The 24-year-old struggled to make an impact at Old Trafford following his arrival from Dortmund in 2021, but has shown signs of his ability since returning to Signal Iduna Park. He shone in the first leg of the semi-final win over Paris St Germain and could yet make a late charge for a place in Gareth Southgate’s England squad for Euro 2024, despite last playing for his country in October 2021. Sancho’s dressing room celebrations after securing a place in the final also went viral as he led his Dortmund team-mates in a rousing rendition of Adele’s hit ‘Someone Like You’.

Jamie Bynoe-Gittens

Borussia Dortmund
Appearances this season: 31
Goals: 2

The England Under-21 international is perhaps the least known player in this list, having followed in Sancho’s initial path of leaving Manchester City’s academy for Dortmund as a 16-year-old in 2020. He has made six appearances in the Europe’s premier competition this season, scoring against AC Milan in a 3-1 victory at the San Siro during the group stages. Bynoe-Gittens, 19, was an unused substitute for both legs of the semi-final against Paris St Germain, but he has already passed the 50-game mark for the the German outfit.

Jude Bellingham

Real Madrid
Appearances this season: 39
Goals: 22

Simply a revelation in Spain, Bellingham will come up against Dortmund – the team he left for his move to the Bernabeu last summer – at Wembley. The 20-year-old was the most sought after player in world football last summer and it was the lure of Real Madrid that ultimately saw him choose a move to LaLiga. He has already claimed the league title with Madrid and can add the gloss to his first season in Spain by helping the club to a record 15th European Cup. Victory in the final would continue Bellingham’s meteoric rise and establish him as one of the best players in the world at such a young age.