Jobe Bellingham opens up on ‘special’ opportunity to play alongside brother Jude for England
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Jobe Bellingham described the prospect of representing England alongside his brother Jude as a moment beyond words.
The midfielder earned his maiden call-up to Thomas Tuchel’s squad following impressive performances for England Under-21s and Borussia Dortmund.
If he features in upcoming Nations League matches against Croatia and Spain, they will become the 22nd set of brothers to play for England.
Jude previously called it the highlight of his career, while Jobe said it would be an emotional milestone.
“I can’t ignore it, but obviously with Jude being here too, it’s a great, great feeling for the family,” Jobe said on the Football Association’s England app.
“It’s quite special, to be honest. It’s such a huge bonus on top of something that’s already so special and so great. To be called up for England is a dream itself and I’ve been so proud to have the opportunity to represent England at every age group.
“I always enjoyed coming away with England, I love competing against top players at whichever age group. But to have that chance of an opportunity to represent England with my brother, it’s really hard to put into words.
“I don’t have the words, really. I think it’s only emotion that could describe it, and, hopefully, if that time does come, you’ll see a lot of emotion from people, and definitely from my family.”
Tuchel notified Jobe of his selection last week, revealing that Jude had recommended he take a look at his younger brother. The Dortmund midfielder was delighted when he received the call.
“Yeah, I’d been obviously hoping for it, as you would as a player,” he added. “It’s somewhere you aspire to be but I thought I’d probably be with the Under-21s, which I’m proud about in itself.
“Then it was last Thursday when I was driving back from training, and I saw a message pop up in my car and it said, ‘Hi, Jobe, it’s Thomas Tuchel’.
“I was, as you can imagine, ecstatic and so excited and then when I took the call later on, it was just quite surreal. You don’t really know what to do with yourself in that moment, but you’re just so pleased and I couldn’t stop smiling.
“I feel really, really proud. It was something that I’d hoped for and I felt like I was making it a little bit more possible each week with each game so yeah, I’m really pleased.”
