Jude Bellingham has inarguably been the best player of the season so far for Real Madrid and has been a key player for Carlo Ancelotti. Not many people expected him to have such an impact after having arrived last summer but he is the club’s leading goal scorer up to now.
Not a pure ‘9’ but he has somehow filled the void that Karim Benzema had left with the goals he has scored. But now, due to an accumulation of yellow cards, the Englishman is suspended for the game against Las Palmas.
It’s a challenging fixture because Las Palmas have the second-best defense in the league – after Real Madrid. As Mundo Deportivo has noted, there are five players Ancelotti may rely on to score in the absence of Bellingham:
1) Rodrygo
The Brazilian scored Madrid’s first goal of the season against Athletic Bilbao and then went on an 11-match goal drought. Despite that, he is the club’s 2nd highest goal scorer. Carlo turned to him in Vinícius’ absence and he stepped up in spectacular fashion.
2) Joselu
The Spaniard has a peripheral role in the team due to Rodrygo and Vinícius’ presence up front. But even then, he has netted the ball 10 times and he always seems to have a chance to increase that tally whenever he comes on as a substitute this season.
3) Vinícius Júnior
Regardless of the fact that the Brazilian winger has missed a good part of the season due to two major injuries, Vini has scored 10 goals this season.
The highlight of his season was the hat-trick he scored against arch-rivals FC Barcelona in the Spanish Super Cup final, which also led Los Blancos to lift their first trophy of the season.
4) Brahim Díaz
Along with Joselu, Brahim’s signing has worked out really well for the club and even if he is not on the scoresheet, he is almost always involved in the buildup to the goal whenever present on the pitch.
The Spaniard is in line to replace Bellingham in the lineup and although both the players have a different profile, Brahim is expected to do what Jude did best and that is: score goals.
5) Dani Carvajal
Since the three-peat, this has been Carvajal’s best season so far as he has scored 4 goals and also been defensively solid. Being the captain he has led from the front and would want to lead his club to another victory against Las Palmas.
