da esoccer bet： The England midfielder isn't finding the net with the same regularity as he did earlier in the season, but it's not time for Los Blancos to panic

da dobrowin： It was the 11th minute of Real Madrid's Copa del Rey clash with Atletico Madrid, and Jude Bellingham couldn't believe he hadn't found the net. He looked at the sky in anguish, while his manager, Carlo Ancelotti, turned away in frustration and team-mate Federico Valverde threw his arms upward. Even Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak, who had watched Bellingham's effort cannon off the crossbar, looked surprised.

Bellingham's miss – if you could call it that – was an unfortunate one. It came at the end of a slaloming run in which the Englishman weaved through two defenders, and angled his left-footed shot into the ground, intentionally sending it skidding goalwards. Still, it proved to be decisive in the scope of the game. Bellingham could have given Los Blancos an early 1-0 lead in a game that they eventually lost 4-2 in extra-time.

Bad luck isn't really something that Bellingham has endured so far in his Madrid career. He spent his first three months at Santiago Bernabeu breaking numerous goalscoring records, besting marks set by Cristiano Ronaldo, Alfredo di Stefano and Zinedine Zidane. But the goals have been at a premium in recent weeks. Bellingham hasn't found the net from open play in almost two months, his only goal coming via a penalty against Almeria in January.

His slump, such as it is, can't be attributed to a downturn in form, as Bellingham has still been immensely effective for Los Blancos. His work-rate is as vital as ever, while the assists have come in spades. Still, that signature goalscoring touch that made him the early Ballon d'Or frontrunner has disappeared.

Getty ImagesEmphatic start

Bellingham didn't arrive as the answer to Madrid' s potential goalscoring problem, but in the wake of Karim Benzema's surprise departure, the summer signing started, banging them in from his first appearance.

He found the net on his debut and scored two against Almeria a week later. By the end of his first three weeks in a Madrid shirt, Bellingham had five goals in four games – with an assist thrown in for good measure. His goalscoring record was so strong that, when he failed to score against Real Sociedad on September 17, Ancelotti was immediately grilled about the England star's inability to find the net at a post-match press conference.

Those fears were soon eased, though. Bellingham kicked-off the Champions League group stages with a stoppage-time winner against Union Berlin, and backed that up with a Zidane-esque solo effort away at Napoli. By the end of November, Bellingham had found the net 14 times in his first 15 Madrid games. Ronaldo only managed 13 across his first 15.

Bellingham, of course, didn't wake up one day and become a prolific goalscorer. Rather, his emphatic opening three months was the product of a series of shrewd tactical tweaks from Ancelotti. A beneficiary of having too muchmidfield talent, the Italian manager used Bellingham as a false nine. The result was a player getting higher up the pitch, and taking his chances at a blistering rate.

"He’s finding a lot of opportunities in attack, and the fact that he doesn’t have a fixed position on the pitch, he does a lot of damage to opponents and nobody expected this level in terms of goals," Ancelotti explained in early October.

Questions about sustainability cropped up. Yes, Bellingham was world-class – that was already known – but could he really be a 40-goal-per-season player?

AdvertisementGetty ImagesImproving goal numbers

A look into Bellingham's past suggests that he isn't made to be a goalscorer. He famously wore the No.22 shirt for both Birmingham City and Borussia Dortmund due to him being able to play as a No.4, No.8 or No.10. It's that kind of versatility that made him so good, so young, but it also allowed managers to push him into deeper positions. Such was the case at Dortmund, where Bellingham started in a deeper-lying role before moving forward with every season that passed.

In the 2020-21 campaign, he scored just four goals, operating mostly as a deeper-lying midfielder alongside Emre Can. Bellingham improved steadily from there, bagging six the season after, and finished his spell in Germany with a 14-goal effort in 2022-23. Finding the net 24 times as a midfielder across three seasons from the ages of 17-19 is nothing to be sniffed at. Still, these weren't the early rumblings of a prolific goalscorer, though there was a sense that he could someday become one, with Dortmund boss Edin Terzic commenting in October 2022 that he wanted to “support him in pushing his limits further".

Why goals have dried up

Still, for all of Bellingham's quality early on at Madrid, something has changed in recent weeks. He hasn't found the net from open play since December 17, and although his assist numbers have stayed constant – he has tallied three since then – something is amiss.

Perhaps the most simple explanation here is that Bellingham has been figured out a bit. He was seldom left wide open in his early Madrid career, but these days, defenders are constantly glued to him. Those spaces inside the box he so regularly capitalised on are no longer there.

Meanwhile, his signature late runs to tuck away rebounds are being tracked with regularity. As a result, Bellingham is shooting less, with 2.4 shots per game to his name over the last two months; from August to the end of November, he averaged 2.8, according to .

He can still produce moments of magic, but those mazy runs – such as the magical solo effort that brought Naples to its feet – are also harder to embark on when he is surrounded by four defenders.

There's a tactical element here, too. Madrid, in recent weeks, have faced a glut of opponents who like to sit deep, which is awkward for a team that thrives in counter-attacking situations. Bellingham, instead of finding pockets in disoriented defences, is left gasping for air in crowded penalty boxes. Asking an attacking midfielder to do the work of a striker is a lot more difficult when he doesn't have any space.

Getty ImagesOthers stepping up

Not that Madrid will necessarily care, of course. They largely keep winning, and are getting goal contributions from all over the pitch far more than when Bellingham was a one-man wrecking ball in the opening months of the campaign.

Joselu, a much-maligned summer signing who quite literally couldn't do it on a cold rainy night in Stoke now has 13 goals to his name this season. Rodrygo has found form after a poor start, and has bagged 12. Vinicius Jr has recovered well from a duo of muscle injuries and has also hit double-digits, while Brahim Diaz, whose Madrid career seemed over when he left for AC Milan two years ago, has found the net seven times.

Perhaps most surprising of all has been the contribution of veteran right-back Dani Carvajal. The Spain international seemed to be coming towards the end of his career during the final months of the 2022-23 season, as although he was only 31 at the time, he struggled for both form and fitness.

There were rumours that he would be replaced, and few would have blamed Madrid for doing so. Now, though, Carvajal looks a player revitalised. Charged with a more attacking role, he has scored four and added four assists. Bellingham, notably, set up his most important goal of the season – a stoppage-time winner over Almeria.

Bellingham, of course, won't be enjoying his goal drought. But if Madrid are getting production from elsewhere, he will have admittedly little to complain about.