The Madrid derby last week in La Liga did not bring the appeal as expected. It is torn by many collision situations, disputes between the two parties. It is not difficult to understand when with a match with the participation of Atletico, Diego Simeone always wants to "break" the opponent by playing thorny.
However, the boredom of the Madrid derby not only came due to the way of playing with the visitors on the visitors. In fact, both teams play quite badly. The goal of the Atletico visitors from the controversial penalty. Meanwhile, the equalizer of Kylian Mbappe for Real Madrid was recorded from a situation that bounced back from the opponent.
In addition to bringing 1 point for Real Madrid, Mbappe's goal also brings another notable highlight, which is the position of Jude Bellingham.
In the first 45 minutes, Real Madrid could not break the solid structure of the Atletico Madrid defense. The visitors took the initiative to back down, making Mbappe unable to comfortably cut and finish. The favorite way of playing Mbappe is the fast reality situation from the middle line. The French striker will use the speed and ability to go cleverly to challenge the opponent midfielder.
Therefore, Mbappe tends to back up the area in the middle of the yard to catch the ball and open speed. At this time, in the Real Madrid squad no longer Toni Kroos, Luka Modric is too old, so if "hammock" at the top, Mbappe will be hungry.
However, when Atletico Madrid deployed a 5-3-2 diagram, both Mbappe and Vinicius were forced to drift more wings because they could not pierce the shield in front of the visitors. They have the support of Fran Garcia and Lucas Vazquez in the border phase. Therefore, Los Blancos needs a person in the penalty area to catch the cross. That person is Jude Bellingham.
By the time Simeone decided to back up further to preserve the score, he moved from 5-3-2 to 5-4-1. At that time, Vinicius and Rodrygo were forced to drift more wings. However, the position of Bellingham has not changed. He always actively ran straight into the Atletico penalty area to welcome the crosses.
When Mbappe docked Real Madrid in the summer of 2024, Bellingham's attacking position was threatened. He is no longer the end of the ball lines anymore. There was a period at the beginning of this season, the British midfielder was constantly. Mbappe took the highest stone position in the attack and Bellingham was forced to back up to support.
Therefore, when using this new way of playing for a student, Ancelotti wants to turn Bellingham into Joselu version 2.0. In recent matches, despite being arranged initially away from the opponent's goal, in the situations of Real Madrid proactively holding the ball, Bellingham often kicked as a striker. In terms of sensitivity in the proactive phases to catch the ball in the penalty area, Bellingham has a better ability than Mbappe.
The following statistics show that Bellingham has 5 finishes, at least 2 times more than all the remaining players on the field. The recent goals of "Mr. Be" also bearing the appearance of the true striker. The goal against Rayo Vallecano is an example. After that, the goals against Leganes, Athletic Bilbao and Mallorca clarified this tactic of Ancelotti.
Jude Bellingham can be used in "No. 8" or "No. 9" such as Cody Gakpo, Kai Havertz and Julian Alvarez played in the Premier League last season. In the context of the first leg of play-off with Man City nearby, the defense is still relieved because of injury, any new option in the attack is considered to be a lifeline for the reigning Champions League. The confident part when marching to Etihad.
