Jude Bellingham on Wednesday said that Real Madrid will be ready for whoever they have to face in the UEFA Champions League playoffs and that the reigning champions are “starting to click” after their 3-0 win against Stade Brestois.
Bellingham scored Madrid’s second goal in between a brace from Rodrygo as the Spanish giants proved too strong for the French upstarts in Guingamp.
It was a third straight win to finish the league phase of the Champions League for Real after they started with three defeats in their first five outings, and that poor start is what led to them coming 11th in the table.
Photo: EPA-EFE
They finished a point outside the top eight places which offered direct qualification for the last 16, and therefore enter today’s draw for the extra playoff round.
They already know that they will face either Manchester City or Celtic in the playoffs next month, with the winners over two legs advancing to the last 16 in March.
“It was important to get the win and finish the group stage strong. I think we probably let ourselves down in a few of the games and that is the reason why we have ended up” in the playoffs, Bellingham told UEFA.com. “No problem, we’ll try and face whatever obstacle comes with a better face and you can see that we are definitely starting to click as a team in the last few weeks.”
Carlo Ancelotti’s side have won their past five matches in all competitions since a 5-2 pasting at the hands of Barcelona in the Spanish Supercopa final in Saudi Arabia on Jan. 12.
Rodrygo opened the scoring against Brest just before the half-hour mark for Real with a low shot across goalkeeper Marco Bizot and in off the far post, moments after the Brazilian had a header expertly saved.
The visitors were missing Vinicius Jr through suspension and Kylian Mbappe was not on scoring form, having previously netted eight times in the past five games, nut that did not matter as Madrid survived seeing Brest’s Ludovic Ajorque have a goal disallowed for a tight offside just after halftime before they went 2-0 ahead on 56 minutes.
Bellingham, the player of the match, sparked a breakaway and then arrived in the penalty area to finish off Lucas Vazquez’s low center.
Rodrygo then scored again on 78 minutes, claiming a brace in a second straight Champions League game, after Mbappe’s shot was saved.
“I think we overlook who scores the goals and that kind of thing because we know that each game it will be someone else, whether it’s Rodrygo’s two and me one tonight, whether it’s Kylian with three the other day,” Bellingham said. “Someone will always step up with a bit of individual brilliance and the rest of us will focus on the organization of the team. That is maybe what we lacked in a few of the early group games, but it seems to be getting better over the last few weeks.”
Madrid qualified from the league phase despite defeats against Lille OSC, AC Milan and Liverpool, and Bellingham gave the new format a thumbs-up.
“It has been nice playing more teams of a higher quality and a real mixed group of teams from all over Europe. It’s nice to have a bit more jeopardy,” he said.
Brest are also through to the playoff round after a memorable first ever European campaign which has seen them finish 18th in the table, above the likes of Juventus and Manchester City, despite losing their past two games.
They play either French rivals Paris Saint-Germain or SL Benfica in the playoffs.
“We want to keep going, make even more history than we have already, and if we can continue to get results, why not,” Bizot said.
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