Real Madrid are back in action on Sunday evening in their first home game of the season at the Santiago Bernabeu, which will also be Kylian Mbappe’s home debut. A packed stadium is expected, but Jude Bellingham might be watching in the stands rather than playing.
The 20-year-old England star did not complete Real Madrid’s penultimate training session before their clash with Real Valladolid. Carlo Ancelotti confirmed that his injury was being evaluated by the medical staff.
“He picked up a knock. They are evaluating it at the moment,” Ancelotti replied, short and to the point.
Fuentes del club informan de que el golpe de Jude Bellingham no parece serio.
Veremos si entra finalmente en la convocatoria para el partido del domingo contra el Real Valladolid. @TheAthleticFC
— Guillermo Rai (@GuillermoRai_) August 23, 2024
Reports since from The Athletic have claimed that his injury does not seem to be a serious issue, although Los Blancos may decide to keep him on the bench as a precaution against Real Valladolid. It might also nudge Carlo Ancelotti to return to a formation with three less attacking midfielders, whereas Bellingham was part of the ‘unbalancing’ of the Real Madrid team during their draw against RCD Mallorca.
Ancelotti look as if he will not change his strategy after just one disappointing result though.
“We prepared the game well. We worked on what we lacked against Mallorca. We understood well what happened and we tried to fix it. Against Valladolid it will be a good test,” mused the Italian.
The Real Madrid coach was content that he had identified the issue, and could sort it out.
“It was quite clear in the evaluation, that I made after the Mallorca game. We lacked balance and we have to work on this. It is not that complicated. If the problem is clear, so is the solution.”
The sight of all of Jude Bellingham, Rodrygo Goes, Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior all lined up on the left-hand side against Mallorca quickly became meme material, but Ancelotti pointed out that he was not going to change a functioning formula for the players that were there beforehand.
“It is the characteristic not just of this team, but also in recent years. The presence of Vinicius makes us play more there because of his quality. Benzema also wanted to play in that area, like Bellingham. It has turned out very well, but now I am not going to say to them to play in the other side when we have won two Champions Leagues doing it like this,” he said pointedly.
