jude bellingham went into Sunday’s El Clasico with more attention on Ashlyn Castro’s Instagram than on the pitch for a few hours, after she posted sun-kissed beach photos ahead of Real Madrid’s match with Barcelona. The timing mattered because Madrid needed only to avoid defeat to secure back-to-back La Liga titles.
Ashlyn Castro on Instagram
Castro, Bellingham’s girlfriend and a model, shared the beach images on Instagram to her more than 650,000 followers. The post kept her squarely in view on a day when Real Madrid were under pressure to finish the job against Barcelona.
She has already built a public profile beyond football. Castro has worked with PrettyLittleThing and set up her own modelling agency, The Four Models.
January 2025 relationship
Bellingham and Castro first went public with their relationship in January 2025. She has since used Instagram to post about him directly, describing Bellingham as the “best karaoke partner” in one post and writing, “Most thoughtful, kind hearted, hard working, incredible human I’ve ever met. You bring so much light into this world.”
That public image has followed her into Real Madrid circles. Castro was spotted talking to Denise Bellingham and Mark Bellingham in Real Madrid’s family box last season, a detail that tied her even more closely to the club’s match-day environment.
Madrid tension before Barcelona
The beach post landed against a backdrop of tension around Real Madrid. Reports from RMC Sport said Bellingham and Kylian Mbappe had a verbal confrontation at half-time during a La Liga match in February, and Federico Valverde was hospitalised after a training ground bust-up with Aurelien Tchouameni on Thursday.
Valverde said he hit his head on a table and suffered a cut during the disagreement, and he was ruled out of the El Clasico this weekend. Real Madrid also announced disciplinary proceedings against Valverde and Tchouameni, adding another layer to a season that had already been marked by internal friction.
For Castro, though, the post was straightforward: a sunlit beach photo set before one of Madrid’s biggest league games, shared while the club chased a title-clinching result and her relationship with Bellingham remained public after its January 2025 reveal.
