Jude Bellingham surprised the whole Liga by shining as soon as he joined Real Madrid. Scoring in the first three games of the season, the 20-year-old English star is recreating the image of Cristiano Ronaldo in the past.
Jude Bellingham shines brightly in the Real Madrid shirt
Real Madrid is experiencing a lot of anxiety in the summer of 2023. First, striker and captain Karim Benzema decided to leave the Bernabeu after 14 years. The French striker is the mainstay of Real Madrid whether in the squad there is Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale or beyond, Raul Gonzalez. Especially in the 5 seasons before parting, Benzema once won the title of Top scorer and 4 times finished second in the list of La Liga goalscorers. Therefore, the departure of the 35-year-old striker made coach Carlo Ancelotti as well as Real Madrid fans very sad.
Efforts to find a true striker to replace Benzema failed. French national team striker Kylian Mbappe failed to reach a financial agreement with parent club PSG to join Real Madrid. England captain striker Harry Kane chose Bayern Munich as his new destination.
The situation forced the Italian military leader to target Jude Bellingham of Borussia Dortmund. The English midfielder has never scored 10 goals a season in the Bundesliga but Real Madrid agreed to spend up to 103 million euros in transfer. Bellingham’s debut in mid-June at the Bernabeu did not have a single audience. In short, Real Madrid fans do not believe that Bellingham is capable of replacing Benzema in scoring goals.
Yet, Bellingham surprised everyone, the 20-year-old midfielder became the youngest player to score in the first 3 La Liga matches for Real Madrid. Bellingham is also the first Real Madrid player since Cristiano Ronaldo in 2009 to score in the first three matches of the season. If Ronaldo has 4 goals after the first 3 matches, Bellingham is impressive because it also has 4 goals and 1 assist. Real Madrid had 6 goals in 3 matches, Bellingham alone accounted for 2/3. The English player is also leading the La Liga scoring list, temporarily helping Real Madrid fans forget about Benzema’s absence.
Bellingham shares the scoring burden with the strikers
Coach Ancelotti made everyone see the reason why he gave Bellingham the number 5 shirt previously worn by Zinedine Zidane. The 20-year-old midfielder is usually positioned lowest in the midfield at Dortmund and England, but he ranked Bellingham in the highest position in the 4-3-1-2 diamond midfield. Bellingham’s football playing ability is very diverse as he can play well as a defensive midfielder, ready to penetrate the opponent’s penalty area, and create assists for the striker above. Thanks to Bellingham’s versatility, Real Madrid won all 9 points after 3 matches to lead the new season’s La Liga table. Fans remember when Mr. Ancelotti was at Chelsea in the 2009-2010 season, he also played with this scheme and had great success with Deco like Bellingham is now.
Bellingham’s appearance helps reduce the strikers’ scoring burden. Striker pair Vinicius and Rodrygo each have only 1 goal. Even when Vinicius was injured and had to leave the field in the 18th minute of the win over Celta Vigo, Mr. Ancelotti kept the same lineup and Bellingham scored the only goal of the match. Striker Vinicius is determined to be out of action until the end of international competition in September, but Mr. Ancelotti believes that the Bellingham diamond will continue to shine to help Real Madrid maintain the top spot in La Liga after the home match against Getafe. this weekend.