Real Madrid manager identifies best position to maximise star midfielder’s output | OneFootball

Jude Bellingham was one of Real Madrid’s few standout players in last night’s win over Espanyol and even scored the team’s opening goal on the night.

The Englishman was seemingly everywhere in the final third and made a menace of himself to the hosts’ defence, making it clear that Jose Mourinho has cracked the code to bring the best out of him.

Needless to say, the key was simply following the same dynamic that made Bellingham shine at the FIFA World Cup – handing him attacking freedom with limited defensive and buildup responsibility.

Mourinho cracks the code

As reported by MARCA in a recent report, Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho believes that the Englishman’s best position is behind the forwards as a link-up player with the attackers.

Mourinho wants to maximise Bellingham’s output. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)

He sees Bellingham as a player who has all the required qualities to attack the final third and score, and thus wishes to maximise the output.

Mourinho understands that fielding Bellingham as a traditional number 6 or number 8 severely diminishes his output and takes him away from the danger zones on the field. All efforts, thus, will be made to keep him close to the opposition goal.

In the hunt for the right pivot

With Bellingham set to play right behind the forwards as a floating attacking midfielder, the Englishman’s defensive output will take a severe hit. What that implies is that there is a need for a very defensively solid pivot.

Valverde was decent as the pivot last night. (Photo by Christian Bruna/Getty Images)

The selection, thus forces Mourinho into a dilemma over what the best combination is for the defensive midfield. After all, he has several individuals who can feature in the department but no single standout pairing.

Federico Valverde and Bernardo Silva started as the double pivot in Real Madrid’s league opener, but the manager also has Aurelien Tchouameni and Eduardo Camavinga as options to count on.

There will, thus, be active efforts to zero in on the best possible variation in the coming weeks so as to keep the team defensively solid while retaining the attacking explosiveness. What is clear, however, is that Bellingham will have no business in the deep midfield under Jose Mourinho.