Bellingham’s Real Madrid start suggests we’re watching a Bernabéu great in the making
After his brace against Osasuna, Jude Bellingham has now netted 10 times in 10 appearances for Real Madrid. This lad’s supposed to be a midfielder, yet he’s managing a goal-a-game strike rate reserved for soccer’s greatest marksmen.
What makes Bellingham’s prolific production in front of goal all the more impressive is that it hasn’t come at the expense of all the sterling work he does in the midfield. A player who has also supplied three assists this season, he pulls the strings like Zinedine Zidane, rolls his sleeves up when the ball has to be won back, and is generally a leader in the engine room.
“Best since Di Stéfano” prediction looks less hasty now
When Madrid signed Bellingham, my fellow journalist Julio César Iglesias predicted Bernabéu greatness for the 20-year-old, assuring me he’d be “the club’s best player since Alfredo di Stéfano”. At the time, I felt Julio was being rather rash - but after watching Bellingham in the white shirt for the last two months, I no longer do. He is proving to be a truly wonderful signing.
I’ve taken the liberty of delving into the archives to find out how Di Stéfano did in his early days at Madrid. He scored on his debut, on matchday three of the Spanish league season, and had 11 goals to his name by the time he had made 10 appearances for Los Blancos - so Bellingham is only a whisker behind the great man.
Now, it’s true that Di Stéfano was even more of an all-rounder than the summer recruit, as he would turn up in defence, too; in other words, he was a kind of Bellingham-meets-Casemiro. But the fact remains that the Englishman’s opening games in Spain suggest we’re watching an all-time-great-to-be.
Be it because of the club’s first-class set-up, be it because of Carlo Ancelotti’s shrewd management, Bellingham has found an environment in which he has immediately flourished, and his scoring figures have rocketed. At Borussia Dortmund, he managed 24 goals in 132 games.
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An excellent win all-round for Real Madrid
Bellingham’s knack for finding the net, amply demonstrated once again in Saturday’s 4-0 league win, was just one of several pieces of good news for Madrid. Another appears to be Ancelotti’s decision to abandon the midfield diamond, which left the flanks exposed, in favour of a flatter four with Bellingham on the left. That doesn’t seem to have affected the player’s ability to get into scoring positions.
It’s also good to see that Vinícius Júnior looks completely over his injury, and that Luka Modric remains Luka Modric, the Croat once more showcasing all his class. A mention should also go to Dani Carvajal, who is in the form of his career, and Joselu, who has now chipped in with five goals.
As we head into the international break, the sun is shining over the Bernabéu.
Video - Viral vid illustrates Real Madrid’s UCL dominance:
