Bellingham is becoming increasingly dominant in the attacking midfield position that Mourinho has found for him, and he seems to be enjoying it.
The player who amazed Real Madrid fans three years ago has now rediscovered his form. In three league matches, Bellingham has contributed two goals, two assists, one goal contribution, and hit the post once. The Englishman has unleashed his brilliance once more, a performance that had been hampered by a shoulder injury in the past two seasons. The player who scored seven goals for England in the World Cup and led the team is back. "Hey Jude" echoes once more at the Bernabéu.
Bellingham's goal against Malaga, and the attack that forced an own goal, were both microcosms of his abilities: never giving up on any ball, dribbling past three players at high speed into the penalty area, powerful shots, amazing jumping ability... almost exactly how Mourinho described him before the match. The Real Madrid manager said the day before the game: "He is a unique player, extremely important to the team. He has many talents, from physical to mental to tactical. At the same time, he can win back possession, pressure opponents, has scoring ability, and is very strong in the air. He is absolutely amazing."
Against Malaga, Bellingham was active in almost every area of the pitch… those two opening goals stemmed from the England player’s tenacity; just like his assist to Vinicius against Real Sociedad. Whenever Bellingham launched an attack, his teammates had no choice but to follow.
After the match, Mourinho praised him, saying, "Bellingham has very high standards for himself and others, and I really like that." Both sides acknowledged this. Bellingham's current form is largely due to the manager's guidance. The player himself agrees: "Now I play more freely, I can move further forward or deeper as needed. I'm really enjoying it, so I'm playing very well," Bellingham said in a post-match interview with Real Madrid TV.
Mourinho had already figured out what kind of space the Englishman needed to perform well, based on his experience playing against him at Benfica. "I had an agreement with him that I didn't want to see Bellingham dropping back like a left-back; I'd seen that many times. Last year, when I was leading Benfica to win in the league, we took full advantage of the situations where he had to drop back to the left from the center. Now we've organized the team differently, and he knows exactly what he's supposed to do and feels comfortable. He likes everyone to work together." The Portuguese coach's accurate analysis in Lisbon paid off, and now Real Madrid is reaping significant rewards in his 4-2-3-1 system through the attacking midfield position.
Bellingham also garnered much praise in England. The Guardian ran the headline "Bellingham propels Real Madrid to another perfect start" after the match. The BBC website wrote: "The England midfielder unleashed a spectacular long-range strike: receiving the ball 35 meters from goal, he quickly dribbled past three players before beating Herrero. Seven minutes later, he was also involved in Real Madrid's second goal."
In these three league matches, Bellingham led the team in some statistics (tied for first in assists with Vinicius), but ranked second in many others. For example, in goals. Other notable statistics include tackles (11, the same as Vinicius, only 2 fewer than Camavinga's 13), chances created (7, fewer than Gueller's 5), successful passes in the opponent's half (81, fewer than Valverde's 109), and successful dribbles (7, the same as Mbappe, 4 fewer than Vinicius). This versatile player has greatly pleased his coach and the Bernabéu stadium, and "Hey Jude" has resounded once again.
