Featured Image Credit: UEFA/Getty
Topics: Real Madrid, Jude Bellingham, Kylian Mbappe, Endrick, Carlo Ancelotti
Matthew Holt
Topics: Real Madrid, Jude Bellingham, Kylian Mbappe, Endrick, Carlo Ancelotti
Jude Bellingham has responded to rumours that Kylian Mbappe has impacted the dressing-room environment at Real Madrid for the worse.
Mbappe, 25, arrived from PSG in the summer in one of the most publicised football transfers of the modern era.
Since then, the France international has netted five goals in seven games for his new club, including a goal in their UEFA Champions League victory over Stuttgart on Tuesday.
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Bellingham himself has only just recovered from an injury that saw him miss the opening games of the new 2024/25 La Liga campaign.
But reports in the media have since suggested a dressing-room rift has been created following Mbappe's summer move.
“I saw on social media that someone’s trying to create something negative between Mbappé, Rodrygo, Vinicius and me,” the England international cleared up.
“The only truth is that we are very good friends on and off the pitch.”
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All four players started together at the Santiago Bernabeu on Tuesday as they emerged 3-1 winners.
Mbappe, Antonio Rudiger and Endrick all scored for the reigning European champions but only after Deniz Undav had given Real a major fright after equalising midway through the second half.
Manager Carlo Ancelotti spoke after the full-time whistle, insisting his team were pushed all the way in Madrid.
"If anyone thinks that winning games is easy, they are wrong," began the Italian.
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"I have coached more than 200 games in the Champions League and I can't remember a game without suffering.
"Nobody knows better than Real Madrid what it's like to win a Champions League with suffering.
"We are still trying to find our best version. It's a work in progress."
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Teenage sensation Endrick was also the subject of huge praise after he found the net for the first time in Europe's premier competition.
"He has the gift that strikers dreams of, the gift of being very effective, decisive," Ancelotti added.
"You can see that he has something special, something I have never seen.
"And he has such a strong and very fast shooting.
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"Endrick had courage because it was the last ball of the game.
"The best solution was to take advantage of the three against one, with Vinicius and Rodrygo open in the wings, but he did it very well, even though it was perhaps the most complicated solution."