Vinicius Junior will very likely win the Ballon d’Or for his stellar performances in the Champions League knockout stages and the second half of the 2024/25 LaLiga season for Real Madrid, but from start to finish, Jude Bellingham was his club’s most consistent player and THE standout of Spanish football.
Playing in his first season at the Santiago Bernabeu, Jude starred in the No. 10 role in Carlo Ancelotti’s system, emphatically answering the question of how Real Madrid would replace Karim Benzema’s lost goals at striker by finding the back of the net 19 times from midfield.
Bellingham captured the zeitgeist of football, bringing his best performances in two Clasico triumphs as Real Madrid ran away with the league, with Jude bringing the same all-around midfield quality from his days at Dortmund while adding a poacher-like goal-scoring touch.
So it has been extremely frustrating for Real Madrid fans to watch as their world-class midfielder has been reduced to the role of a water boy, utilized by Carletto as if he is a journeyman defensive midfielder playing a utility role, rather than one of the most talented superstars in the world – the scorer of a literal tournament-saving bicycle kick in Euro 2042.
At El Clasico, Carlo Ancelotti sunk to a new low as a manager with his usage of arguably the most talented all-around footballer on the planet, and this graphic from The Madrid Zone of the average player positions sums up the issue.
Jude Bellingham is not being put in a position to succeed
Jude Bellingham played like a right back, going deeper behind Lucas Vazquez. He was forced to do so much empty running in a schemeless defense, plugging up holes that were truly impossible to fill, because more holes would pop up.
The England international then had to bust his lungs up the pitch with the ball – or without it – to support Real Madrid counters, covering the ground of three men with the speed of a jet plane, only to look like a fool on the stat sheet and receive the derision of cynical fans worldwide.
Meanwhile, Madridistas know the truth, and that is that Bellingham, as has been the case all season long thus far, has been forced in positions that are not ideal to his skill set or how he can best help the team.
It has been Bellingham, not Vinicius Jr. or Rodrygo Goes, who has been forced to sacrifice for Kylian Mbappe, a player who has come in and offered not even half of Jude’s quality or overall production.
Jude Bellingham saved Real Madrid in El Clasico last season. Ancelotti’s response was to take his best player out of the equation and turn him into a roving energizer bunny, rather than the stone-cold, big-game attacking killer that he is.
If Carlo doesn’t adjust and build this team back around Jude in the middle and Vini on the left with Mbappe and Rodrygo as the uber-talented supporting cast, this could be a long season for Los Merengues.
But if he is able to maximize his best players, which has always been a strength of his, Real Madrid could become more dominant than ever. After all, they were the convincing Champions League winners last season.
It’s your move, Don Carlo. And it starts with Jude.
The managing editor of The Trivela Effect, Kevin has 15 years of experience in digital media. He covered Real Madrid from 2019-2022 for The Real Champs as a site manager. You can contact him at the site’s official Twitter handle @TrivelaEffect or via the site’s official email thetrivelaeffect@gmail.com.