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The English midfielder has shown great adaptation in his first season, becoming key in the title
Real Madrid is the 2023-2024 LaLiga champion . The white team beat Cádiz 3-0, which together with the defeat of their pursuer, FC Barcelona, in Girona (4-2) , mathematically gives them the title, the 36th in their cabinets. And in that match the Englishman Jude Bellingham scored again .
Arms open in a cross looking at the stands. The Englishman Jude Bellingham has established his personal celebration in each goal to the point of turning it into one of the iconic images of LaLiga 2023-2024, the 36th in Real Madrid’s showcases . At 20 years old, he will turn 21 in June, he has had one of the best performances that a debutant can remember.
Without being a ‘nine’, he has contributed center forward numbers to the league statistics for Madrid. With this matchday, he has 18 goals in 26 games , fighting with Dovbyk and Sorloth in the race for the Pichichi Award , and four assists.
Despite his age, he has demonstrated outstanding maturity and mental strength. Above all, taking into account the pressure of arriving at a club like Real Madrid, being the star signing (120 million) and inheriting the number that Zinedine Zidane once wore ; Bellingham himself chose it, by the way.
All of the above may seem exaggerated, but there is the example of Arda Güler in the same dressing room, although the very young Turkish midfielder has not been spared by injuries at the start of the season. Costing the same and with more experience accumulated before his arrival, the Belgian Eden Hazard ended his time at Madrid without pain or glory, to give another example.
Perhaps the best comparison in terms of rapid adaptation and adaptation between transfer price, previous expectations generated and leadership capacity in his first season is with Cristiano Ronaldo, who left Madrid breaking records. The two started by scoring five goals in their first four days.
Bellingham made himself known in San Mamés , scoring one of the two goals in Madrid’s victory against Athletic Club (0-2) . That August 12 of last year, his iconic celebration was understood as a provocation, but 17 goals later it has already been assimilated by rival fans.
He has repeated it later in complicated fields such as the surprising Girona, but without a doubt in the classic of the first round against Barcelona it was decisive. He scored both goals for his team to claim the victory.
Barça has been one of their favorite victims, since they also scored one of the three that served to decide the league in the Bernabéu classic (3-2); specifically the third, in added time when the tie was assumed.
Beyond the goals, his performance on the field has satisfied Carlo Ancelott, who in a press conference prior to the visit to Mallorca defended his scoring average going down because, in his words, ” now he is doing his job, which is that of an interior or midfielder. The goals have decreased but not the performance .”
Costumes and fans surrender to his charisma
Continuity has also been key, in contrast to what we pointed out before Güler. Bellingham has only missed three games due to injury : one for his shoulder and two for his sprain. The sanctions have weighed the same, one for the accumulation of yellow cards and two games for protesting the goal he scored in Valencia and did not get on the scoreboard because Gil Manzano whistled the end of the game. “It’s a fucking goal” was his protest in his native language.
He tries to improve with our language, but one of the first expressions he has learned is “hala Madrid” to put the fans in his pocket. ” I feel grateful every time I wear the Madrid shield on my chest . When they called me, I didn’t think twice,” he said at a press conference prior to the Champions League match against Manchester City.
He has also won over the locker room, portraying those who predicted rivalry with Vinicius due to the clash of egos and showing complicity, for example, with Lucas Vázquez on social networks after the recent classic, in which the Galician was the most prominent and assistant. in his goal.
Bellingham’s season has already been evaluated by others, although his performance with Borussia Dortmund also helped him with the Kopa Award from ‘France Football’ magazine. For the Golden Boy and the recent Laureus for the revelation athlete, his explosion as a Real Madrid player has weighed more.
Even a legend like Usain Bolt has ended up surrendering to his gesture of opening his arms, although the award statuette may claim copyright.
Los Angeles Times
Madeline Fass
Amandine Lhoste
