Goals, goals, goals
To no great surprise for fans of Spanish football, it was Jude Bellingham that was once again on hand to rescue Real Madrid when they locked horns with Barcelona in the first El Clasico of the new season. Despite going behind after just six minutes when Ilkay Gundogan took advantage of a poor defensive pass, Los Blancos were able to eventually claim all three points on the day thanks to the England international.
In a match that saw both teams share possession and chances in equal measure, Bellingham levelled the scoring in the 68th minute, when the midfielder fired the ball just inside the right post with a wonderful shot from outside the box. Then, two minutes into additional time, the midfielder was played through one-on-one with the goalkeeper and duly slotted it home to make it 2-1 to Madrid and keep Carlo Ancelotti’s side top of the LaLiga table after matchday 11. And Saturday’s showdown was by no means the first time Bellingham has struck the back of the net with his remarkable eye for goal.
How many goals has Jude Bellingham scored for Real Madrid?
When Madrid agreed to sign Bellingham from Borussia Dortmund for €103 million, the Spanish giants knew they were signing one of Europe’s most promising players. But even Los Blancos couldn’t have possibly envisaged the 20-year-old talent taking to Spanish football as well as he has done so far. Now three months into the new season, Bellingham had already begun showing signs that he was more than ready to lead the line for his new club in LaLiga.
Indeed, the central midfielder has already taken it upon himself to create and score the goals necessary to drag his club and country on to bigger and better things. For example, in 13 games across all competitions to date Bellingham has bagged no less than 13 goals and three assists for Madrid. In terms of goal contributions per game, Bellingham is currently averaging a goal or an assists for Madrid every 70 minutes of football, or averaging an incredible 1.27 goals and assists per 90 minutes of football. Which is a truly remarkable return for a player that many still assume plays in the middle of the pitch.
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Why is Jude Bellingham scoring so many goals for Real Madrid?
There are undoubtedly two key factors at work that have led to Bellingham’s prominence in front of goal this season for Madrid. The first one is unquestionably the fact that following the departure of Karim Benzema, Ancelotti’s side no longer have a top-class striker up front to demand the ball. Instead, Rodrygo and Vinicius Jr play off either wing, with Joselu playing as a target man, which allows the space for midfield runners to make moves through the centre of the pitch. As such, Bellingham has simply moved in to a free space on the pitch for his new team. Which is why the midfielder has so far bagged more shots on target and more dribbles than any other Madrid player in LaLiga this season.
The other factor is that over the course of his time at Dortmund, Bellingham developed into more and more of an attacking player. As the graphic above illustrates, while Bellingham’s key passes levelled out at a certain level for Dortmund, his tendency to dribble with the ball and to take shots jumped significantly over his three seasons in Germany. To the point that in his final year in the Bundesliga no player completed more dribbles than the young midfielder, who also finished tenth among all players in the division for total shots.
As such, when presented with the opportunity to make runs into the box and score goals for Madrid, Bellingham has not only had the courage to step up for his new club but has also clearly spent the last three seasons developing into a more attacking player. So much so that there’s little doubt that the England international is now best suited to the no.10 role on the pitch, if not even further forward as a second striker. And there’s no doubt that Madrid fans are delighted with this development.
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