With his stunning acrobatic goal to save England from humiliation against Slovakia in the 95th minute, Jude Bellingham became a member of football's unofficial overhead-kick hall of fame, joining the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Wayne Rooney, Zinedine Zidane, Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo. But as he sat in his press conference after England had sneaked into the Euro 2024 quarter-finals, he resembled Michael Jordan.
Jordan was the most compelling athlete of his generation, and 17 years after retirement, he rose back to prominence via 'The Last Dance', the docuseries charting his incredible career. Helped by the world being locked in their homes due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the show was a smash hit. It quickly became ESPN's most popular programme of all time with 5.5 million viewers per episode in the United States, while another 23.8 million worldwide watched it on Netflix.
Jordan's role in leading the Chicago Bulls to six NBA championships was the main storyline, but the most interesting aspect of the show was how it revealed his single-minded mentality. Jordan used even the tiniest little details as fuel to get better and better and to continue humiliating his rivals.
From Sonics coach George Karl not saying hello to him at dinner to Charles Barkley or Karl Malone being voted as MVP at his expense, Jordan became motivated for revenge every step of the way. He was on a one-man mission to monster his rivals and show that he was the very best, and he sure achieved that goal.
The show spawned the iconic "And I took that personally" meme, although, for the record, Jordan never uttered those words. The phrase he actually used was: "It became personal with me." For opponents such as Byron Russell or LaBradford Smith who trash-talked him, he would say "He was on my list" or "I hated him".
Bellingham mimicked the 'I'm him' phenomenon that has been sweeping the NBA in the last couple of years when he shouted 'Who else?' after rescuing England from the abyss. He had a vindictive look to him as he ran to the England fans behind the goal and put his fingers to his ear, suggesting supporters and pundits alike have been talking too much.