Real Madrid have been one of the most disappointing teams in European football since the start of the 2024/25 season. They are on their third coach now and have failed to win a single trophy, getting outplayed by Barcelona in many games while consistently disappointing against the top teams in the Champions League, including Arsenal and Liverpool in the Premier League and now Bayern Munich in this current quarterfinals tie.
After losing the first leg 2-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu, Real Madrid face tall odds in the second leg in Bavaria. None of the superstar players have been at their best level this season, but there is hope that with Jude Bellingham healthy in the midfield, at least one workhorse can help the rest of the team come to its senses.
The duo of Vinicius Junior and Kylian Mbappe continues to be a disaster together. Individually, they are incredible, and when the Frenchman was down, Vini was at his vintage best at times. After watching them flounder against Girona, though, Real Madrid are back to square one, as these two right footed left wingers who want to dribble everyone and take all the shots themselves are simply getting in each other's way.
Jude Bellingham wants to move to the right
Speaking at the press conference ahead of the decisive tie against Bayern Munich, Jude Bellingham offered his interpretation of the problem and a potential solution for Alvaro Arbeloa to consider. The English superstar said, via the Madrid Zone, "Me, Mbappé and Vini don't fit well together? It's hard to answer that, there were games where we played very well together. Maybe sometimes we lean too much to the left, and if I play on the right, that would provide more balance, given that we play with a lot of freedom. Maybe people see the glass half empty."
Bellingham on the right? Like many right footed center midfielders, Bellingham often does his best work on the left hand side, and people forget this, but he used to score great solo goals cutting in from there at Borussia Dortmund. But Real Madrid have enough players who like to cut inside - and Bellingham is no longer a primary goal scorer for Real like he was in that central false 10 position during the 2023/24 season.
Jude is right. The other of the three Real Madrid superstars needs to pull players out to the right to relieve pressure off Vinicius Junior and Kylian Mbappe on the left. Bellingham starting as a right sided center midfielder isn't going to solve all the problems - neither has the other great Madrid midfielder Fede Valverde been able to as the RCM either - but it's at least a start. The thing is, Bellingham works for the team and focuses on winning over his own stats. Will Vinicius do the same again? Or will he drag himself down to Mbappe's level? Because at this point, Madridistas are giving up hope that Mbappe will be the one to change for the better of the team.
Add us as a preferred source on Google