MADRID, 22 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The big signing of the summer at Real Madrid, the British Jude Bellingham, is responding quickly to the expectations created with his arrival and is being the spearhead of the Madrid forward line, while Rodrygo, who was expected to make a notable step forward, It is being the cross of the coin in the White House.
Jude Bellingham has been the star of the start of the season and in the first six games with the white shirt, the Englishman has scored 6 goals and provided an assist. On the contrary, the Brazilian Rodrygo, without Karim Benzema in the team and with his compatriot Vinicius Junior injured, is not shining and has only contributed one goal to the team.
It took Jude Bellingham just over a month of competition for the Santiago Bernabéu to chant his name to the rhythm of ‘Hey Jude’. And he no less deserves the white ‘5’. This season’s brand new reinforcement is being the main protagonist of the start of the League and ‘Champions’. Real Madrid knew they were signing one of the best midfielders in the world, what they didn’t know was that they were signing a player capable of being decisive with his goals.
In his first six games as a merengue, Bellingham averages one goal per game. In LaLiga EA Sports, he is the competition’s top scorer with five goals, remaining clean only in the match against Real Sociedad. And in his debut in the Champions League, the white team’s favorite competition, he was the author of the agonizing goal that gave victory in his debut against Unión Berlin, causing delirium at the Bernabéu.
But the English international is much more than a goal. His involvement in Real Madrid’s game is total. Carlo Ancelotti has designed a game system in which he is the cornerstone. In Real Madrid 23-24 everything revolves around the figure of Jude. And what you give to Bellingham, Bellingham gives back to you.
According to data from Driblab, the Englishman is the protagonist in practically all of the white team’s attacks with an average of 53 actions with the ball per game. And if this were not enough, he has the ability to organize and distribute, with a total of 256 successful passes so far this season, and a delivery accuracy of 88%. Furthermore, his physical display allows him to have defensive capacity, having stolen 17 balls so far and winning an average of 6 duels per game.
But the anomalous part of his performance so far is facing the goal. Bellingham has scored 6 goals in just 6 games, which is almost half of the 14 he scored in the entire last season with Dortmund. The British is especially inspired by the definition, sometimes seeming to be touched by a wand. So far, he has scored 3 more goals than expected according to the advanced statistics (xG), with a success rate of 38% of the shots he has attempted. Some figures that place him, at this start of the season, among the best scorers on the planet.
But not everything is happy in the first month of competition for the fourteen-time European champion. If Bellingham is impressing with his performance, Rodrygo is disappointing. The Brazilian striker was expected to take center stage in Real Madrid’s attack this season due to the departure of Karim Benzema. Furthermore, Vinicius’ injury in the second league game placed him even more in the spotlight. However, the young white talent is not meeting expectations.
After a great debut in San Mamés, in which he also opened the scoring with what is his only goal so far, Rodrygo has seemed erratic in front of goal. The Brazilian is the Real Madrid player who has attempted the most shots so far with 26. Of them, he has only sent one into the back of the net, with a more than discreet 4% scoring effectiveness, and a goal difference expected -2.
Rodrygo is also not good at one of the main virtues of his game, dribbling. Despite completing an average of 2.5 dribbles per game, the percentage of times he moves away from his opponent when dribbling is less than 50%, losing the ball more than half of the times he tries to face it. Some data that shows that the change in system has not been good for the international with the five-time world champion, who, despite this, continues to be the undisputed starter for Carlo Ancelotti.
This Sunday, in one of the big games of the season, against Atlético in the Metropolitano, Bellingham and Rodrygo will have a new opportunity to, in the case of the Englishman, show that he is still sweet, and in the case of the Brazilian, who wants end his bad streak in front of goal and return the trust of his coach in the form of goals and assists.