Newcomer Bellingham Madrid's driving force in La Liga conquest

Madrid had only won three of the last 11 Spanish titles but Bellingham's goals helped them whisk away the crown from rivals Barcelona with four games to spare. When Los Blancos agreed the 103-million-euro ($110 million) deal with Borussia Dortmund for the midfielder he was only 19, and opponents could be forgiven for underestimating him.

Even coach Carlo Ancelotti did, in some ways. Bellingham was the Bundesliga player of the season and an undoubted talent, but nobody anticipated such a successful start to life in Spain, or him becoming such a potent threat in the final third.

Ancelotti, who noted the potential for Bellingham to cause havoc in attacking areas and deployed him as part of Madrid's frontline, later admitted his surprise at Bellingham's goalscoring exploits - he is the team's top scorer in La Liga with 18 goals. Bellingham netted only 16 goals across four league campaigns prior with Birmingham and Borussia Dortmund.

He showed impeccable cool before the world's media at his presentation last June, demonstrating he already knew how to get fans onside, something with which Welsh winger Gareth Bale struggled. Bellingham chose the number five shirt in homage to former Madrid great Zinedine Zidane, whom he has drawn comparisons to for his technical ability.

"It's not the case that other teams are bad, it's just that Real Madrid are the greatest," said Bellingham, and he has helped expand that legend by driving Los Blancos to a record-extending 36th La Liga title. Bellingham became the first English player to score for Real Madrid since David Beckham in 2007 on his debut at Athletic Bilbao.

He scored two and set up another in Madrid's following game at Almeria, grabbed the winner at Celta Vigo the week after and then re