Despite starting against Dortmund in the UEFA Champions League, Jude Bellingham has yet to score a goal since the start of the 2024-2025 season. The fact that the English star is no longer given much scoring responsibility is something that was predicted in advance due to the appearance of Kylian Mbappe.
The English midfielder is no longer the final destination of attacks, so the number of goals will certainly decrease compared to the same period (this time last year there were 10 goals). However, the current number of zero is surprising.
At first glance, Bellingham's importance in Real Madrid's squad may have diminished, but the opposite has been proven on the pitch. Now, the 21-year-old star is given the role of linking the squad together. In the last four La Liga games, Bellingham has covered more ground, reaching a minimum of 10km per game.
Along with Federico Valverde, Bellingham's box-to-box ability plays a particularly important role in keeping the midfield stable throughout the 90 minutes. In particular, he will be the fulcrum for the trio of Vinicius - Mbappe - Rodrygo to dominate up front.
In the opening game of the season against Mallorca, Carlo Ancelotti used a 4-3-3 formation to keep all his attacking stars on the pitch. Vinicius and Mbappe were happy to constantly swap positions on the left, while Bellingham and Rodrygo were encouraged to switch positions on the opposite flank. Valverde was the other man to push forward.
This style of play left danger when everyone rushed forward, leaving Aurelien Tchouameni alone to guard the defense. Realizing this, Bellingham repeatedly dropped back to support his teammate. The running back and forth like that left the English star exhausted. A few days later on the training ground, he immediately suffered a muscle injury.
Real Madrid’s theoretically strongest attacking lineup has left too much space in the middle of the pitch, putting direct pressure on the defence. For example, in the Champions League match against Stuttgart, Real Madrid conceded 1.9 non-penalty expected goals, the highest at the Bernabeu in almost two years. This figure emerged in such an alarming way when Bellingham left his midfield position and joined his teammates in attack.
After that match, Ancelotti himself admitted to the Spanish media that he did not really know whether Bellingham's role on the field was as a striker or a midfielder. Since Toni Kroos retired, many in the Real Madrid coaching staff wanted Bellingham to drop deeper to play in an organizing role like the German midfielder. This process will take time.
Ancelotti has changed, against Alaves, Real Madrid still played a 4-3-3 with both Bellingham and Valverde in midfield. The pair moved up and down the flanks, leaving Tchouameni in the middle. When the French midfielder had the ball, Bellingham timed his run to break behind the halfway line, before receiving a pass to lay it off to Vinicius.
That situation left Bellingham in an offside position but just 20 minutes later, he coordinated with Mbappe in a similar way and assisted the French striker to score the fourth goal for Los Blancos.
The left-sided space, if Real play a 4-4-2, is where Ancelotti wants Bellingham to develop going forward. This way of playing could provide more security for the defence. Carletto would be forced to sacrifice a striker for a midfielder and allow Bellingham to move inside with more confidence, allowing the attackers to benefit from it.
Dani Carvajal's injury and possible absence for the rest of the season forced Ancelotti to change his plans and push Bellingham to the right wing to support the defense. In the coming time, depending on the development of the force, the English midfielder may continue to be assigned to other positions. Ancelotti needs Bellingham's versatility at this time to help Real Madrid's overall performance. As for the issue of scoring goals, Mbappe and Vinicius must do well.
Bellingham is only 21 years old, and has plenty of time to develop in the future. His frustration in recent matches can be easily explained by his youth, and he is no longer able to explode with goals like last season. Ancelotti's role in this is the most important, he must know how to harmonize his stars, thereby finding the best development direction for the team in this season with a lot of competition.
