Legend Zinedine Zidane explains why Jude Bellingham had to change his shirt number at Real Madrid.

That is the headline shared in the article of the Mirror newspaper (UK). Jude Bellingham has worn the famous Real Madrid number 5 shirt following in the footsteps of Zinedine Zidane . Zidane used to wear the number 5 shirt at Real Madrid and he revealed why he initially chose it. Zidane is a Real Madrid legend as both a player and a coach.

Former Real Madrid superstar Zinedine Zidane revealed that president Florentino Perez’s personal preferences influenced his choice of shirt number 5, the same as Jude Bellingham currently wears at Los Blancos.

The World Cup winner wore the number 5 on his back as he cemented his iconic status at the Santiago Bernabeu between 2001 and 2006. This is not normally an official shirt number for a midfielder. However, Zidane has turned the number 5 shirt into a symbol in the Spanish capital team.

Zidane turned the number 5 shirt at Real Madrid into history . PHOTO: GETTY

Now, the hero of Madrid’s legendary victory in the Champions League final at Hampden Park in 2002 has revealed that the idea of ​​wearing this shirt number was the product of Real Madrid president Florentino Perez. In an interview with Adidas Football, Zidane shared how the Los Blancos chief motivated him to make the decision to choose shirt number 5.

More than two decades later, English midfielder Jude Bellingham chose to wear the number 5 shirt to pay homage to Zidane. In his first season playing for Real Madrid after transferring from Borussia Dortmund last summer, Bellingham scored 13 goals in just his first 14 appearances.

Now, the man known to many as “Zizou” has reflected on Bellingham’s dream start as the next midfielder to wear the number 5 shirt at Madrid. And Zidane explained the “rule imposed by Florentino Perez” forced Zidane to choose the number 5 shirt and may have forced Bellingham to do the same.
Jude Bellingham chose shirt number 5 at Real Madrid. PHOTO: GETTY

Describing how he first decided to take the number 5 shirt at Real Madrid when he arrived at the club in 2001, Zinedine Zidane said: “It was strange to see someone else with the number five, to see a central midfielder with the number The year is also very strange.

But do you know how that happens? President Florentino Perez does not like players wearing high shirt numbers like 25, 30, 35, he belongs to the old school. Number one is for the goalkeeper and then up to number 11, that’s it.”

Zidane continued to explain: “(Former Real Madrid player) Manolo Sanchis wore the number 5 shirt and played in defense. He left and when I got there, the president said to me “do you want to take the number from one to ten?”. I agreed and chose shirt number 5 because he didn’t want me to wear numbers 25, 30, 35. He said “this is not soccer , this is American football”, so in the end I got shirt number 5.” .

Zinedine Zidane added: “Florentino Perez said “please”, and I thought “this is my first day, I will say yes” but in the end, the number 5 became history for me, for Madrid, number 10 but also number 5. I don’t remember much about number 21 at Juventus.”

Zidane revealed that president Florentino Perez may have been the one to suggest that Bellingham wear the number 5 shirt at Real Madrid. PHOTO: MIRROR
It’s been 22 years and Florentino Perez is still in charge as president at Los Blancos, even if it’s unclear whether he influenced Bellingham to take Zidane’s old jersey. What is certain is that Bellingham appears to have been inspired by the historic number 5 shirt, after experiencing one of the most satisfying starts to his career at Real Madrid.

Previously, Jude Bellingham wore the number 22 shirt at club level for Birmingham City and Borussia Dortmund. He also wore the number 8 shirt for England, before alternating between number 8 and number 10 this year at the Three Lions.