REAL MADRID
How Real Madrid have adapted to life without Bellingham
Ancelotti’s side have had to adapt without their number ‘5′, but things have not been running as smoothly without the presence of the Englishman.
In his media press conference after the nerve-wracking 1-0 win over Sevilla, Carlo Ancelotti himself admitted the difficulty of getting through opposition defences without Jude Bellingham in the side.
“If you don’t have Jude or Joselu, you have to use quick combinations, because you lack the reference point”. It does not seem like a coincidence that the team has only managed to score three goals in their last three games in which Bellingham has not been present. So far in 2024, Los Blancos, with the number ‘5′ on the field, have been prolific, scoring 3.5 goals on average per game, including huge ties against Atlético (twice), Barcelona and Girona.
The first explanation for their goalscoring superpowers is the most obvious one: Bellingham is both the team’s top scorer (20 goals) and top provider (8), meaning the impact if he is not there is clear to see. But it is his very particular way of attacking that has left a huge hole in the XI. The graphic below shows the average positions of the side during the 1-0 against Sevilla, where the gap highlighted in red is the one usually occupied by Bellingham, and it’s wide open and looking for someone to be its friend.
Bellingham-less Real Madrid lacking goal threat
Despite the fact that Rodrygo started the game on paper as a centre-forward leaning to the right, he ended up overlapping with Vinicius on the opposite wing (yellow circle on the graphic). Both Navas and Badé teamed up together for the opposition and for large parts of the game they managed to neutralise the Brazilian duo.
Madrid, in terms of numbers, did threaten despite the problems: they had 16 shots and 5 were blocked by Sevilla players. But in Vallecas, on the previous match day against Rayo Vallecano, the final score (1-1, with just 10 shots attempted) highlighted the difficulty they had when it came to testing the goalkeeper. Playing at home is not the same as playing away, of course, but the number was almost half of what Madrid managed (19 shots) with Bellingham on the pitch in the 0-0 draw against Rayo at the Bernabéu last year.
Real Madrid’s long-awaited return of the English star will not have to be carry on for long. The latest information coming from the club regarding Bellingham’s return has him back for the trip to Mestalla against Valencia than the game against Leipzig the week after. The initial prediction for Jude’s return was against the German team at the earliest, but his smooth recovery means that the doctors have seemingly put his return date forward by a week.
On Friday he began to run but most importantly, to work with the ball. The only thing left for him to do is strengthen the injured area to ensure that he does not suffer a relapse. The club are also being very careful with him as they reported that Bellingham had been, quite shockingly, just “one millimetre” away from a much more serious injury, something akin to what Vinicius suffered against Ajax in 2019 which kept him out for more than two months. Jude avoided a serious problem for himself, Madrid and Ancelotti, and all three are getting ready to celebrate his return.