Gareth Southgate handed worry over Jude Bellingham, with savage rating highlighting Real Madrid star's flaws
Real Madrid star Jude Bellingham failed to make an impact against Manchester City on Tuesday evening
Jude Bellingham had ‘his worst match since arriving at Real Madrid’ in Tuesday night’s 3-3 draw with Manchester City, according to French newspaper L’Equipe.
The 20-year-old has so far enjoyed a sensational season at the Bernabeu since his €103million summer transfer from Borussia Dortmund, scoring 20 goals and laying on 10 assists in his 33 appearances so far.
But his excellent form this season stalled in the Champions League quarter-final first leg as his Madrid side played out a thrilling draw against the defending European champions.
L’Equipe are famous for refusing to pull any punches with their player ratings and handed the former Birmingham City man a three out of ten, saying he had ‘his worst match since arriving at Real’ and that he ‘never weighed in on the game’.
With this summer’s European Championship beginning in just two months, England boss Gareth Southgate will no doubt have been an interested spectator as he watched Bellingham’s performance in Real’s biggest game of the season so far.
Southgate will have been more enthused by what he saw from Phil Foden however, as the City star was handed a seven out of ten rating, the pick of the bunch from Pep Guardiola’s team.
And it wasn’t just Bellingham that was at the mercy of the L’Equipte ratings, as Erling Haaland was also handed a three, with the publication stating that his performance 'confirmed his immense difficulties in very high-level matches' and was dubbed the ‘flop of the match’.
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Madrid’s Eduardo Camavinga received the top rating with his eight out of ten, in a mark that ‘reflected his destruction in all four corners of the field throughout a huge match.’
The second leg takes place at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday, April 17.
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For more than a decade Joe Mewis has worked in football journalism as a reporter and editor, with stints at Mirror Football and LeedsLive among others. He is the author of four football history books that include times on Leeds United and the England national team.