Jude Bellingham said his versatility can sometimes work against him at Real Madrid, with the England midfielder admitting he has been asked to fill several roles as his place in the team has shifted under Alvaro Arbeloa.
Bellingham spoke on Tuesday ahead of Real Madrid’s Champions League quarter-final second leg against Bayern Munich in Germany, one day after acknowledging that there has been a change in his role. He said he has been used higher up and wider in different phases of his time in Spain, but this season he has been asked to operate a little deeper. “There’s no doubt there’s been a change,” he said, adding that one of his strengths is being able to play in different positions to a good level, though that can make him “a little bit of a victim” when coaches move him around if things are not going well.
The 22-year-old’s numbers show the difference in his attacking output. He has six goals and four assists in 32 appearances this season, well below the 23 goals and 13 assists he produced in his first full campaign and the 15 goals and 15 assists he managed in his second. Bellingham said he first played at the top of a three-man midfield in a diamond shape with two wingers acting like strikers ahead of him, then spent more time coming in from the left last season, before being asked to sit deeper under both Xabi Alonso and Arbeloa.
That shift has come as Real Madrid look to solve a broader problem. The club lost the first leg 2-1 at the Bernabeu and, after Friday’s 1-1 home draw with Girona, were nine points behind La Liga leaders Barcelona. Against Girona, Bellingham started alongside Vinicius Junior and Kylian Mbappe, but he said the three tend to crowd the same side of the pitch because both forwards prefer to play from the left while he is forced into the centre.
“It’s difficult because there have been many matches where we’ve worked very well together,” Bellingham said. “The two of them tend to play more on the left and I have to play more in the centre, which can make it hard to find the right balance and make the most of the quality we have.” He said the team still has to trust its talent and focus on what works, because when the line-up clicks, it can win matches. That is the calculation Madrid now carry into Germany: a star-heavy attack that can overwhelm opponents, but only if the pieces stop getting in one another’s way.
