Real Madrid new signing Jude Bellingham breaks scoring record with 14 goals in 15 games

Jude Bellingham looks set to become one of Real Madrid’s most successful signings in the club’s history. At the start of the season, the 20-year-old Englishman not only justifies the €100 million-plus spent on his transfer from Borussia Dortmund, but exceeds all expectations associated with his appearance. In the next match of the Spanish championship against Cadiz, he broke the scoring record held by two outstanding forwards – Alfredo Di Stefano and Cristiano Ronaldo, scoring 14 times in his first 15 games for Real.

The match, in which in the 14th round of the Spanish championship Real defeated Cadiz on a foreign field – 3:0, could have remained a completely ordinary event within the framework of the next football weekend. The giant dealt with the outsider, who was located not far from the relegation zone. Two circumstances turned it into a rather noticeable event.

The first is the problems of Real Madrid, which has been hit by an avalanche of injuries in recent months. With Cadiz, he was forced to play without both main goalkeepers – Thibaut Courtois and Kepa Arrizabalaga, without the main central defender Eder Militan, without important midfielders Eduardo Camavinga and Aurélien Chuameni. In such circumstances, even a victory over a team from the bottom of the table takes on a slightly different shade.

The second reason is those through whose efforts this victory was achieved in the first place. The double in the match was scored by 22-year-old Brazilian Rodrigo, who at the end of autumn was terribly hot and effective. The third goal and a bunch of other useful actions were scored by the Englishman Jude Bellingham, who is even younger: he turned twenty in the summer, that is, immediately before the start of the season. Both Bellingham and his game are truly something special.

During the off-season, Real Madrid I bought an English football player from Borussia Dortmund for, albeit far from the record, but still a huge amount of €103 million.

Bellingham, of course, managed to acquire a reputation as an undisputed prodigy, also proven in “big” matches and “big” competitions.

But still, the question of whether he would be able to quickly adapt, whatever one may say, to a higher level compared to the one to which he was accustomed in terms of responsibility and attention from the public, remained extremely relevant.

Jude Bellingham surprised everyone, including those who seemed impossible to surprise. On the eve of Real’s meeting with Cadiz, Mundo Deportivo asked the former outstanding German footballer Lothar Matthäus for his opinion on Bellingham. Matthäus said that, since he had been following Bellingham for a long time, of course, he guessed that the Englishman could open up in a new way, finding himself surrounded by such wise and subtle partners as, for example, Luka Modric, but he was still shocked. And above all – its effectiveness.

An excellent reason to remember her again appeared just after the match with Cadiz. The goal against him was for Jude Bellingham 11th in the Spanish Championship, in which he played 12 matches. He scored three more in the three Champions League games in which he took part. That works out to 14 goals in 15 official matches.

No one has ever started so well for Real.

Before Bellingham, the record for the number of goals in the first fifteen matches in his composition was 13 and belonged to three players – Pruden, who played in the 1940s, as well as two legends of different generations, who between them won seven Ballon d’Or – Alfredo Di Stefano and Cristiano Ronaldo.

But there are two important nuances. Di Stefano, before joining Real Madrid in 1953, which brought him worldwide fame, had already played in the South American elite for almost ten years and was a mature footballer. And Ronaldo generally moved to the Madrid club in 2009 in the status of an undisputed superstar, who had the most valuable among individual prizes in his track record.

The second nuance is that both Alfredo Di Stefano and Cristiano Ronaldo are forwards whose role implies the presence of goalscoring skills. And Jude Bellingham is still a midfielder. He may be an attacker, with insider’s habits, but he is a midfielder, who scored 12 goals in 98 matches over three seasons in the German championship. And at the same time, it cannot be said that at Real Madrid he is skimping on his direct responsibilities. On the contrary, from the episodes in which Bellingham brilliantly accelerates attacks, brilliantly assists his partners, including Rodrigue, aggravates the situation with jerks, shifts from the left flank to the center, a gorgeous video clip is formed. But somehow he still manages to hold the bar of an elite sniper, always located on the leading edge. And if Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti actually leaves him next season to lead the Brazilian national team, fans of the Spanish grandee will probably add the sudden improvement of this facet of the young Englishman’s talent as a farewell to the list of his most important achievements, along with, say, last year’s unexpected triumph in the Champions League. In the end, he may have shown the world a very special footballer and club leader for years to come.

Alexey Dospehov