The England midfielder is the main reason Carlo Ancelotti’s team succeeds; without him, they would be a much inferior team.
It’s possible that Jude Bellingham said “fck off.” He may have added, “fck you.” Neither is a very good way to address a referee. Anybody who has participated in competitive sports at any level may be aware that these incidents occur during intense combat. There should always be boundaries, but Bellingham’s enthusiasm has been examined, re-examined, and, to be honest, overanalysed.
And it is on that principle that it becomes necessary to analyse Bellingham’s impact on Real Madrid – or, more accurately, what’s missing when he’s not on the pitch. it was assumed, for some time, that in Vinicius Jr and Kylian Mbappe, Los Blancos had pretty much all they needed to swat opponents aside. Midfielders come and go, but world-class, Ballon d’Or-contending, match-winning forwards are almost unique.
As it turns out, football is more complex than that. A look at the past couple of months has shown that Madrid can live with a suspended Vinicius, can cope with an injured Rodrygo, and can dip deep into their academy to cover in defence. What they cannot do, though, is figure out how to win when Bellingham is not on the pitch. And with him again suspended for the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie with Atletico Madrid – this time for accumulation of yellow cards, rather than abusing an official – they simply must snap that streak.
The raw numbers don’t look all that bad when analysing Madrid’s results during Bellingham’s La Liga suspension. Without Bellingham, Madrid beat Girona at home, before slipping to a defeat at Real Betis that leaves them three points off leaders Barcelona in the title race. While that loss is unlikely to be terminal to their championship hopes, the manner of their performances in both that game and the victory that preceded it will be of concern to Carlo Ancelotti. Very rarely are Madrid so outclassed as they were on Saturday.
For the second half of the Betis game, Madrid basically stood and watched as Isco pulled the strings for the home side. There was no pressure on the ball, and even an apparent disinterest when their opponents had it. This wasn’t a tactical low-block as much as a general ambivalence with absolutely no bite to be found.
That’s what they miss when Bellingham isn’t there. For some time, the ex-Birmingham City trainee was considered an old-school English midfielder. The Steven Gerrard comparisons were a bit too easy and slightly inaccurate (he’s more Zinedine Zidane than Stevie G), but he does have that kind of leadership to him. Bellingham runs, Bellingham shouts, and Bellingham tackles just a little bit too hard while getting away with it. There is a gravitas to the way he goes about the game with the ball, and a real snarl when he’s without it.
Madrid don’t really have another player like Bellingham in their squad. Luka Modric may wear the armband for Los Blancos, but he isn’t really a leader in the same way. These days, he floats around, finding cute angles and the killer pass. His off-ball work is spent mostly determining how he can conserve energy until he regains possession.
Federico Valverde cannot be faulted for his energy, but he lacks Bellingham’s rampant disregard for positional discipline – the chaos factor. Valverde is a diligent, workmanlike footballer, someone who will follow instructions, but seldom improvise around them. Dani Ceballos, meanwhile, moves left and right, and often mistimes his tackles, and both Aurelien Tchouameni and Eduardo Camavinga are best used to shield and break up play.
Ancelotti outlined Bellingham’s influence in October when he said: “We’re satisfied with his work, I’m very satisfied. He works a lot, he’s always present, he competes, he fights, he sacrifices himself.” Without him, Madrid just look a weaker team.
The defensive numbers back all of that up. Bellingham may be, loosely, an attacking midfielder, best known for his contributions in the final third, but it is his defensive numbers that go underappreciated. In fact, they’re in line the best in the world. Among attacking midfielders, Bellingham is in the 92nd percentile for tackles, 94th for interceptions and 91st for blocks, per FBRef. He wins headers, blocks passes and makes clearances at an above average rate.
And then, there’s the eye test. Bellingham can regularly be seen running 30 yards to chase a lost cause, tackling a little bit too hard and snarling at an opponent after deflecting a pass into touch, or winning a throw in. There is a rare defensive inspiration about some midfielders; Bellingham has it in spades.
He seems to bring it out of others, too. Perhaps the defining image of Madrid’s early season frustrations came in a Champions League loss to Lille. Los Blancos were losing late in the second half, and neither Vinicius nor Mbappe looked like they really cared, as both were strolling around while the opponents had the ball. Bellingham turned around from a midfield position and screamed at the attacking duo, and while they couldn’t turn the game around, and it is admittedly hard to pin a whole season on one shout, but Mbappe and Vinicius weren’t ever really caught walking about again.
