Jude Bellingham’s Real Madrid will have to contest a play‑off for a place in the Champions League round of 16.
Jude Bellingham was visibly frustrated following Real Madrid’s 4-2 loss to Benfica in the Champions League, and he didn’t hold back in criticising his teammates. The defeat saw the Spanish heavyweights slip into the play-off spots rather than advancing directly to the round of 16.
Despite taking the lead through Kylian Mbappe, Real found themselves trailing 2-1 at half-time. However, nothing could have prepared them for the late drama that unfolded in stoppage time.
From a Fredrik Aursnes free-kick, the ball fell to Benfica goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin, who headed it past Thibaut Courtois and into the net.
“Yeah, obviously it’s horrible to lose like this in the manner,” the former Birmingham City academy graduate, Bellingham confessed to CBS Sports after the match. “I’m running out of words for some of these games now.
“We’ll obviously have to review it tomorrow and look at the goals we conceded and things like that but yeah… not much to say right now.
“It’s still a bit raw so not really sure what to think but yeah, we’ll have to look at it tomorrow.”
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The victory allowed Jose Mourinho’s team to leapfrog Marseille and secure the final play-off spot, beating them on goal difference. Meanwhile, Real ended up ninth, just one place below the automatic qualification spots.
Bellingham featured for the full 90 minutes but failed to find the net, with Mbappe netting twice. Andreas Schjelderup also grabbed a double whilst Vangelis Pavlidis converted from the penalty spot just before the interval.
When questioned about whether Benfica showed greater intensity, Bellingham agreed, responding: “100%, yeah.
“One of the factors for sure, the duels, they won all of them, ran harder, pressed better, landed on second balls, the basic things that we don’t do so well to be honest.
“I mean, we have so much talent and people who can produce magic out of nowhere but if you don’t do the basic things, you’re going to get punished but look, what can you do?”
“What can we do from now? Moan and complain that we found ourselves in this position outside of the top eight or approach it with the same mentality as if we’re playing the quarter-final? It doesn’t matter to us now, we have to carry on.”
Alvaro Arbeloa’s squad will discover their opponents on Friday (January 29), when the draw takes place in Switzerland at 11am, involving clubs that finished between ninth and 24th position. Real could potentially face Benfica once more.
