“Bellingham has played a good game”. “He is a fantastic player”. “His best position is 10”. These are the phrases that Carlo Ancelotti said about Jude Bellingham in the appearance after his team's victory against Milan in Real Madrid's first pre-season game, in California.
The funny thing is that the coach's compliments sometimes responded to journalists' questions, but on others he simply had the Englishman's name on the tip of his tongue and it came out automatically.. It's no secret that the new Real Madrid gravitate to the 20-year-old British midfielder who cost Madrid €103m this summer from Borussia Dortmund.
The great proof of this is the change in the layout of the white team on the field, abandoning its usual 4-3-3. The system of three forwards has been a constant since the arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo at Chamartín. The famous BBC (Bale, Benzema, Cristiano) that evolved according to the name not only of the members of the squad, but also of the starting players.
There was a time when Bale stayed at the club more by career than by game, something similar to what happened with the presence of Eden Hazard, the brand new blue signing that never broke out in the white team and, in recent times, the alternation between Rodrygo, Asensio and Valverde on the right wing with the two indisputables, Vinicius, on the left, and the Ballon d'Or winner, Karim Benzema, in the central axis.
Last season, a year of many injuries for the forward from Olympique de Lyon, Ancelotti had already tried a different system on occasion: the 4-4-2, with the two Brazilians, Rodrygo and Vinicius at the forefront, but with the line of four in the middle of the field more parallel. However, the arrival of the Dortmund midfielder has added the rhombus to the Italian coach's slate. The four midfielders form a diamond with the Englishman in the lead behind the two forwards.
However, as a coach who “adapts to the players he has” knows well, as he stated, this new system needs time and practice.. “I liked the rhombus, we tried more to play inside than outside,” explained the Italian after the game at the Rose Bowl Arena against Milan.
But then, he also listed his weaknesses, at least the current ones.. “It's a system that we're trying and we'll wait to see how it works throughout the season,” the Italian began and then deepened: “We have to try to press more up, because with the rhombus we have a lot of central pressure and less lateral. Clearly, defensively it's not the best system, but I have to adapt the players to find a good defense-attack balance.”
In this new system, the offensive vocation of the full-backs is paramount, since they are responsible for giving the team width. In the first game, Dani Carvajal and Fran García did much better than Lucas Vázquez or Mendy. The Frenchman was also very erratic when he released the ball, something that the Italian coach did not like.
The new Real Madrid
Beyond the rhombus, Real Madrid 2023/24 is a team adapted to changing times. It's more upright and physical and perhaps less tap-and-pause. Only Kroos and Modric survive this style of play in the white team and both are in the final stretch of the races. Madrid, as with the signings of young players with projection, is renewing both its names and its style.
A player who represents this reinvention well in every way is the MVP of Madrid's first preseason game, Fede Valverde. The Uruguayan is essential for Ancelotti, as he demonstrated last season by giving him more than 2,500 minutes (more than 73 per game), despite not enjoying his best year, especially after the World Cup in Qatar.
Mbappé with his brother in a PSG training session. AP
“The team has to get used to the extraordinary quality of Bellingham,” praised Ancelotti.. And to that of Valverde; Brahim's, with great flashes against Milan, Camavinga's, Tchouameni and all the media that will have a regular presence in this new diamond. And, perhaps, that of Kylian Mbappé.
Valverde remembered Mbappé at the end of the match against Milan and ranked him among “the best in the world”. “Not only now, but it will surely be for many years,” said the Uruguayan.
Meanwhile, the French player, separated from the PSG tour, is the subject of multiple rumors such as Barça's claim, according to 'L'Equipe', or the offer from Al-Hilal, from Arabia, who would pay 300 million euros for his transfer. Real Madrid, for the moment, continues without a pronouncement.