Real Madrid’s Bellingham Out with Calf Injury
Real Madrid star Jude Bellingham will be sidelined for several weeks due to a calf injury sustained in training. The injury is expected to keep him out of action for at least the next three La Liga matches and England’s Nations League fixtures against the Republic of Ireland and Finland.
Carlo Ancelotti, Real Madrid’s manager, has confirmed that Bellingham will miss the upcoming match against Real Valladolid. While the Italian coach typically holds press conferences the day before games, he decided to conduct his final training session behind closed doors at the Santiago Bernabeu to assess the pitch conditions.
Jude Bellingham missed 13 games in all competitions for Madrid last season but remained unbeaten, winning 11 and drawing twice, while their goals per game also rose from 2.2 to 2.7.
Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti, who usually speaks to the media the day before each game, decided to change the schedule and will hold the final training session behind closed doors at the Santiago Bernabeu, where Los Blancos host Real Valladolid on Sunday.
However, the unusual move had nothing to do with Madrid’s display in the 1-1 draw at Real Mallorca last weekend.
“It’s nothing special, I’m doing it just to test the pitch, because it has changed compared to last year,” said the Italian, who was unhappy with the effort his side showed against Mallorca.
“I want the players to try the new pitch to see how they feel there. There is nothing superstitious or anything else behind it.”
The Italian insisted, however, that he needs to see a better performance in order for him to deploy an attacking quarter of Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo and Bellingham ahead of only two conventional midfielders.
“It was a pretty clear game to evaluate, we lacked balance, it’s not very complicated. There is a clear solution,” Ancelotti said.
“With such an attacking team, the forwards have to work a bit harder. We have tried to fix it with a lot of work this week.”
Ancelotti expects a warm welcome by Madrid’s fans for Mbappe’s home debut.
“It’s going to be a beautiful day for Mbappe, playing for the first time at the Bernabeu wearing Real’s jersey… The fans are going to enjoy it a lot, I’m sure of that,” Ancelotti said.
