- Ancelotti has praised Bellingham despite sharp criticism from the press
- Spanish media said number 10 went from ’10 to zero’, but Ancelotti disagrees
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Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti is not concerned about midfielder Jude Bellingham’s lack of goals this season, despite being pilloried by the Spanish press for it.
Ancelotti has said that Bellingham has an important role within his team’s current set-up and that he is ‘very pleased with [Bellingham’s] work’.
Bellingham, 21, enjoyed a stunning debut season at the Bernabeu in 2023-24 after his successful move from Borussia Dortmund for an initial fee of £88.5 million.
The England star scored 23 goals and added 13 assists in just 42 games as Real won LaLiga, the Champions League and the Spanish Super Cup.
However, Bellingham is yet to open his account this time around, with the midfielder having failed to score in nine games in 2024/25, plus the final two games of 2023/24 – and the 21-year-old subsequently called off. Through Spanish newspaper Marca.
Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti has launched a robust defense of Jude Bellingham
The 21-year-old Bellingham has been criticized by the Spanish press for his lack of goals this season
Ancelotti expressed his support for Bellingham and said he is ‘very satisfied’ with his work
At the same point last season, Bellingham had scored ten goals and Marca labeled the midfielder as ‘going from ten to zero in a year’.
“We are satisfied with his work, I am very satisfied,” Ancelotti told the press. ‘He works a lot, he is always present, he competes, he fights, he sacrifices himself.
‘It is true that he did not score the goals he scored last year, but the surprise is not this year, the surprise was last year when he scored a lot of goals that no one expected and helped us a lot. The problem this year isn’t that we’re missing Bellingham’s goals.
‘We have always scored goals and will always score because we have talented players up front. For us, the work he is doing at the moment is more important than the goals he scored last year.’
Ancelotti also offered a robust defense of the gameplay of star striker Kylian Mbappe, who was similarly criticized by the press for his lack of involvement off the ball and in general play.
‘[I ask him] to score goals. I’d rather him score goals than pressure,” Ancelotti said.
‘The role of the striker has not changed for us, I ask the same of Mbappé as I asked Karim [Benzema]to be ready when we win the ball, and try to make a quick transition.”
Bellingham is yet to score a goal this season, having netted 23 times in all competitions in his first year at the Bernabeu
Ancelotti also refuted criticism of Kylian Mbappe by saying he is happy with his team play
The 65-year-old Italian was keen to impress on the fact that his team are still not performing at their best this season, and fans can expect improvements.
“We’re obviously not 100%,” he said. ‘We have achieved good results, but we have to improve our game, and little by little we will… We have to defend better, just like last year.
‘At the moment the team is less solid and we are working on that.’
