Zero in nine games: Carlo Ancelotti backs Jude Bellingham over goals draughts

Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti has come in defense of Jude Bellingham as the England International continues to be called out over his performance.

Bellingham hasn’t found the net in nine games for Madrid this season, after scoring 23 club goals in all competitions last campaign. His lack of goals has raised eyebrows among some fans but Ancelotti believes he offer much more.

Ancelotti says the work Bellingham is doing for the team this season is “more important” than scoring goals.

“We’re satisfied with his work, I’m very satisfied,” Ancelotti said in a news conference on Monday ahead of Madrid’s Champions League game with Borussia Dortmund. “He works a lot, he’s always present, he competes, he fights, he sacrifices himself.

“It’s true he hasn’t scored the goals he scored last year, but the surprise isn’t this year, the surprise was last year, when he scored lots of goals which nobody expected and helped us a lot. The problem this year isn’t that we’re lacking Bellingham’s goals.

“We’ve always scored goals, and we’ll always score, because we have talented players up front. For us, in this moment, the work he’s doing is more important than the goals the scored last year.”

Ancelotti also noted that he’s not concerned by criticism of the Kylian Mbappe’s work off-the-ball. Mbappé scored against Celta — and has six league goals this season.

“[I ask him] to score goals,” Ancelotti said. “I prefer him to score goals rather than pressing. The centre forward role hasn’t changed for us, I ask the same of Mbappé that I asked Karim [Benzema], to be ready when we win the ball, and try to make a fast transition.”

Madrid host Barcelona in LaLiga in El Clásico on Saturday, three points behind the league leaders. It’s set to be thriller with Hansi Flick’s side currently in top form, meanwhile, Madrid are yet to play at their best.

“We aren’t 100%, obviously,” Ancelotti said. “We’ve got good results, but we have to improve in terms of our play, and little by little, we will. We have to defend better, as we did last year. Right now the team is less solid, and we’re working on that.”