Phil Foden v Jude Bellingham: The battle for England's number 10

Manchester City and Real Madrid are evenly poised as they head into their Champions League quarter-final second leg at Etihad Stadium - and it will be another audition for two of England's greatest talents.

Phil Foden has lit up the Premier League this season with his performances for City, while Jude Bellingham's form for Real Madrid has caught the eye across Europe.

Both players will be key to England's hopes at Euro 2024 but Gareth Southgate has a welcome dilemma - who will play in the number 10 role?

They both started in that position for their opposing clubs in a frantic first leg which finished 3-3 in Madrid last week.

Foden was a standout performer, picking up the man of the match award after scoring in the second half, taking his opportunity in a position he has enjoyed on nine occasions for City this season.

Bellingham has notched up 24 games in the position for Real this campaign and he is likely to play another key role in Wednesday's return leg - so how do the two players compare statistically?

What do the stats say about their roles?
Football stats website WhoScored has rated them almost identically in the number 10 position this season with Foden scoring 7.84 and Bellingham 7.83 according to their metrics.

Foden has seven goals and three assists in his 10 appearances, only contributing to more goals (12) from the right-hand side, where he has played on 18 occasions across all competitions for club and country.

Bellingham has contributed to an extraordinary 24 goals (16 goals, eight assists) as an attacking midfielder, but he has played two-and-a-half times the number of games in that position than Foden this season.

The Real Madrid star does seem to generally perform better in the middle - he also has two goals and one assist from 12 games in a deeper central midfield role.

For England, Bellingham has had first dibs as the number 10 this season. He has started four matches as an attacking midfielder, one game on the left behind a front three and was rested in October's friendly win over Australia.

With Bellingham injured in November, Foden started against North Macedonia in the number 10 shirt - the only time he has done so under Southgate this season - while he was used on the right against Malta, where has he played most for England in 2023-24.