Bellingham, the new Christ of the Bernabéu, scores and leads Real Madrid against Osasuna
Arms in a cross, the Bernabéu venerates its new Christ, a pagan Christ, a Christ of the goal. The demanding Chamartín crowd has reasons, because Bellingham scores like a 9, plays like a 10 and works like a 5. The temptation to look for precedents for this start is human, as is nostalgia, but Bellingham should not be looked for in the past, but in the future, for its ability to combine technique and precision with the physical power and speed that they demand. the new times of football. In a solvent Madrid it makes a winning Madrid. Ancelotti's team needs Belligham's winning record to be repeated. Like a Christ on the grass of paradise, not in the sand of Calvary. [Narrative and statistics (4-0)]
Osasuna, which fell by a resounding 4-0, provided facilities so that the image did not wait long. He defended by position but without aggression. For a team like Navarre it is like playing without heart. At the first break of lines, caused by Camavinga and Modric, the Croatian handed over to Carvajal inside the area and he gave way for the arrival of Bellingham. There was traffic, so in that situation you have to be cool-headed not to rush, you have to be a killer.. The Englishman waited, saved a piece and hit without burdens due to responsibility.
Something similar happened with the second goal, after Osasuna returned to the contemplative field after the break and the Englishman looked for a wall to define under Herrera's legs.. Easy. Unbecoming of a player who is barely 20 years old who has just arrived at Madrid.
LITTLE IRON OF OSASUNA
Between one goal and another, few things happened, with no more scares for Herrera, despite Madrid's dominance, and with two for Kepa at the end of the first period, when Osasuna did things that it does well in transitions. The team circumstantially led by Alkiza on the Bernabéu wing, given Arrasate's sanction, has long been no longer responding solely to a team that fights and resists. No. His offensive intentions are clear, although at the Bernabéu he lacked conviction and surely energy. He came out of his cave to find Moncayola's shot and a very clear shot from Budimir, after an empanada by Carvajal and Kepa, both before the break. Nothing else. To visit Madrid you need more iron.
Bellingham's second goal, however, curtailed any change of scenery that could be intuited after those two isolated chances for the Arrasate team, desperate in the box.. Osasuna was dead. Madrid had liked the ball and would do so more from that moment on, with Modric once again starting, Camavinga in the pivot and Tchouaméni as central defender.. The last one is fast, but he does not have the measurements that the job offers in that position. Normal.
Ancelotti uses priceless logic. Instead of getting carried away by the rigid hierarchy of positions to adapt the team to absences, he prefers to do it for quality. As the population with the most talent is in the center of the field, it uses midfielders to cover holes: better a good one in another position than a less good one in its own. That explains Camavinga's trips to the side or the presence, yesterday, of Tchouaméni in the center of the defense.
Vinicius, against David García and Sergio Herrera, in the 3-0 action.
Talent in its purest form is Vinicius, whose start to the season is not the end of the previous ones, injury through. Madrid needs him in his best version, because we cannot talk about 'Bellingham dependence', but it is better not to provoke tendencies that go against the sense of team. In a different scenario than at the beginning, Vinicius, who Areso had covered well, found the space to run towards the goal. After what he achieved in Naples, it is the second in a row for the Brazilian, something that should contribute to his reunion with himself. Better on the road in the area than noise or in the courthouse.
Vinicius did more, giving the assist for the fourth goal to Joselu, while Ancelotti moved the bench, with minutes for the electric Brahim or Ceballos, and Arrasate tried the impossible with his. Joselu adds and continues, without anyone wondering about the missed penalty at the end, but Madrid needs to consolidate that luck after Benzema's departure for when it is necessary under pressure. Asking Bellingham too seems like too much. Or not.