Bellingham Voted LaLiga Player of the Season 

27 May 2024, Spain, Valdebebas: Real Madrid's Jude Bellingham speaks with the press during Real Madrid Open Media Day at Ciudad Real Madrid, ahead of their UEFA Champions League final soccer match against Borussia Dortmund. (dpa)
27 May 2024, Spain, Valdebebas: Real Madrid's Jude Bellingham speaks with the press during Real Madrid Open Media Day at Ciudad Real Madrid, ahead of their UEFA Champions League final soccer match against Borussia Dortmund. (dpa)
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Bellingham Voted LaLiga Player of the Season 

27 May 2024, Spain, Valdebebas: Real Madrid's Jude Bellingham speaks with the press during Real Madrid Open Media Day at Ciudad Real Madrid, ahead of their UEFA Champions League final soccer match against Borussia Dortmund. (dpa)
27 May 2024, Spain, Valdebebas: Real Madrid's Jude Bellingham speaks with the press during Real Madrid Open Media Day at Ciudad Real Madrid, ahead of their UEFA Champions League final soccer match against Borussia Dortmund. (dpa)

Real Madrid midfielder Jude Bellingham has been voted LaLiga's Player of the Season after the 20-year-old played a pivotal role in leading the club to their 36th league title.

Bellingham edged out teammate Vinicius Jr, Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid), Artem Dovbyk (Girona) and Robert Lewandowski (Barcelona) in votes cast by fans, club captains and a panel of experts.

He scored 19 goals and had six assists in 28 league games this season, and tallied 23 goals and 12 assists in all competitions for the club.

Bellingham, who could not attend Tuesday's ceremony in Sardinia as he was preparing for the Champions League final at Wembley against his former club Borussia Dortmund, said he was honored to have received the award.

"I would like to dedicate it to my teammates, the coaching staff and, most importantly, to the fans of the best club in the world," he said in a message. "It's a pleasure every time I play for this team. Hala Madrid!"

The Englishman also won the 2022-23 Bundesliga Player of the Season playing for Dortmund before moving to Real for a fee of around 103 million Euros ($111.71 million).

Earlier on Tuesday, Dortmund sporting director Sebastian Kehl was full of praise for Bellingham.

"I know how strong Jude is and I know his personality very much, so he's an amazing player, an amazing character and of course, he will do everything to win that final," he said.



Gasly Puts Alpine on Top in First Saudi F1 Practice

 Alpine driver Pierre Gasly of France steers his car during the first free practice ahead of the Formula One Saudi Arabian Grand Prix at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP)
Alpine driver Pierre Gasly of France steers his car during the first free practice ahead of the Formula One Saudi Arabian Grand Prix at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP)
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Gasly Puts Alpine on Top in First Saudi F1 Practice

 Alpine driver Pierre Gasly of France steers his car during the first free practice ahead of the Formula One Saudi Arabian Grand Prix at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP)
Alpine driver Pierre Gasly of France steers his car during the first free practice ahead of the Formula One Saudi Arabian Grand Prix at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP)

Pierre Gasly was surprise top of the timesheets for Renault-owned Alpine in first practice for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on Friday.

The French driver lapped the super-fast Jeddah Corniche circuit with a best time of one minute 29.239 seconds, 0.007 quicker than McLaren's Formula One leader Lando Norris could manage.

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc was third, 0.070 off the leading pace, with McLaren's Australian Oscar Piastri, winner in Bahrain last weekend and only three points behind Norris after four races, fourth.

The session, run in the late afternoon sunshine on the shores of the Red Sea, was largely unrepresentative of the conditions for Saturday's qualifying and Sunday's race, which is held at night.

The session still served as a useful measure of driver confidence on a daunting track that rewards the gradual building up of pace.

Alex Albon was fifth for Williams with George Russell sixth fastest for Mercedes, ahead of Williams' Carlos Sainz and Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton.

Red Bull's reigning champion Max Verstappen, last year's winner in Jeddah, was ninth and teammate Yuki Tsunoda completed the top 10.

Gasly's Australian rookie teammate Jack Doohan was 16th.

Haas's Oliver Bearman, who made his F1 debut with Ferrari as a stand-in last year, was 18th after a brush with the wall at turn one. He continued without damage.