The England midfielder is the driving force behind Carlo Ancelotti's side's success – they are a far weaker side without him
Jude Bellingham might have said "f*ck off." He might also have said "f*ck you." Neither is a particularly good thing to say to a referee. Anyone who has played competitive sport – at any level – might understand that these things happen in the heat of battle. There are limits – there should always be limits – but Bellingham's passion has been analysed, re-analysed and, frankly, over analysed.
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.
Getty Images SportVibes are off
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.
AdvertisementGetty Images SportWhat they miss
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.
Getty Images SportDefensive due dilligence
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 . 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.
GettyGrowing attacking influence
Going the other way, there was some confusion earlier in the 2024-25 campaign as to why Bellingham had stopped scoring. After all, 12 months ago, he had been on pace bag 40 in his debut season for Madrid (23 in all competitions was a fine return, mind you).
There were a number of reasons for the drop-off. Bellingham was playing in a deeper role while Madrid weren't quite firing on all cylinders as a team. The main factor, however, was that Bellingham no longer needed to be man going forward. Vinicius and Mbappe were doing much of the heavy lifting, meaning there barely enough goals to go around for fellow elite forward Rodrygo, never mind Bellingham as well.
The Englishman has, of course, responded to those early concerns by rediscovering his scoring touch, and he now has 12 goals in all competitions for club and country this term. But perhaps more importantly for this Madrid side is that he has also begun showing his creative side far more.
Such was his goal-scoring prowess last season that Bellingham's assist numbers went undervalued, as he laid on 17 goals for others across games for Madrid and England. Right now, he is well on pace to smash that number this season. Thus far, he has 14 assists to his name, and given the number of games left this season, he should be targeting at least 20.
The best example of what Bellingham brings to the table came in the only game in this four-match run that Bellingham has been able to play amid his Liga and Champions League suspensions: the first leg of Madrid's Copa del Rey semi-final against Real Sociedad.
Early on, Ancelotti's side were losing badly on balance of play but just about holding their opponents at bay. And then the moment came: Bellingham picked up the ball in his own half, pivoted with his left foot, and without really looking up, pinged a 60-yard pass to Endrick. The Brazilian teenager took one touch to control, and a second to poke home. That was all Madrid needed for a 1-0 win, and it's those contributions that are missing when Bellingham is unavailable.