Antoine Griezmann and Jude Bellingham, the playmakers of the Madrid derby

MADRID, 28 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The French attacker of Atlético de Madrid Antoine Griezmann and the English midfielder Jude Bellingham are being the main game generators of their teams at the start of the season and will be the compass of colchoneros and merengues in the Madrid derby at the Cívitas Metropolitano.

Antoine Griezmann’s start to the season is being one of the best of his career. The Colchonero attacker has seven participations in goals in six games, averaging one per game. Numbers in the first seven games of a season that he has only managed to surpass once, in the 2015-16 campaign in which he scored five goals and three assists.

Furthermore, his four assists in the first seven games of the season, the last one giving Julián Álvarez the winning goal against Celta, is also the highest figure of his career in this section. A fact that shows the importance of the Frenchman for his teammates when it comes to finding goal situations, since 40% of the goals scored by Atlético de Madrid that he has not scored have been assisted by him.

Regarding his role in the game, in the eight games he has played this season – six as a starter and two as a substitute – he has been on the pitch for 585 minutes. In them, 421 balls have passed through his boots, with which he has completed 201 passes, generated 11 chances, finished on goal 11 times and participated in seven goals. Numbers that make him the main game generator of his team.

For his part, Jude Bellingham, despite missing four of his team’s first nine games due to injury, is being one of Real Madrid’s most outstanding players at the start of the season. With the retirement of Toni Kroos, and the non-incorporation of any creative midfielder to the team, the Englishman was called to take a step forward in the creation of the white team’s football, and this is what he is assuming.

From a position further back than the one he occupied last year, Bellingham is the builder of Madrid’s game. Proof of this are the two assists he has distributed so far, one of them decisive in winning the European Super Cup against Atalanta, a final in which he was named best player of the match. There, the Englishman, in addition to assisting, completed 43 passes, created five chances and finished on goal four times.

Furthermore, in the rest of the games, Bellingham has participated in 324 actions in the game for his team, completing 90 percent of the 225 passes he has attempted. Regarding his ability to generate danger, the Englishman has generated eight chances, more than one per game, which means he averages 1.3 expected assists. Data that explains the Englishman’s evolution compared to last year, in which he averaged four fewer ball actions per game.

Regarding the performance of both players in the Madrid derbies, Griezmann takes the duel there. In the capital duels in which both have coincided – the four of last season – the Frenchman scored three goals and provided an assist, remaining only in the Bernabéu League match without participating in a colchonero goal. For its part, Bellingham did not perform at a good level against the rojiblancos and could only provide one assist in the cup defeat.