The tenacious Celta under Rafael Benitez was defeated by the England international’s late header for his third straight victory. In his brief time in the Spanish city, he has been nothing short of a phenomenon and is more than living up to his €103 million price tag.
“Bellingham is doing very well; he keeps scoring and contributing to the team,” Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti told reporters in his post-game press conference.
Although goals aren’t his strongest suit, he’s doing well. He has outstanding timing, is cerebral, and is good off the ball. On the edge of the area, he is really talented.
The following nine statistics highlight Bellingham’s outstanding performance with Real Madrid:
Bellingham and Monaco’s Wissam Ben Yedder are now tied for first place in the top five leagues in Europe with the most goals scored so far in 2023–24. No player has made more contributions to goals.
Bellingham has now equaled Eden Hazard’s total of La Liga goals. In just three games and 261 minutes, he has achieved this. Following his club-record €115 million transfer from Chelsea, Hazard spent four years at the Bernabeu but only managed 54 games and 2524 minutes in La Liga.
In each of his three competitive games for Los Blancos, the 20-year-old has scored. He has contributed directly to all but one of the club’s goals so far this season, or 66.66% of the total.
With the exception of one, Bellingham’s goals for Madrid have either tied or increased their lead. Five of Madrid’s nine points so far this season have come directly from his goals.
Only one other Real Madrid player, Cristiano Ronaldo, has ever scored in each of his first three La Liga games for the team.
A goal or assist is scored in Bellingham every 52 minutes and every 65 minutes on average. It’s a small sample size and probably won’t last, but to put that in perspective, Lionel Messi averaged a goal or assist in La Liga every 49 minutes in his greatest season (2011–12), and Cristiano Ronaldo did the same in his finest La Liga season (2014–15). Erling Haaland had a goal or assist per 63 minutes and a goal or assist every 77 minutes in the Premier League last season.
His nine attempts and six on-target shots for his four goals this season total just 1.1 x G (per FBref).
He has received the official Man of the Match award in each of his three La Liga games so far this year. In every game, he has also been selected as WhoScored’s Man of the Match based solely on statistical performance.
Bellingham (8.54) has the second-lowest WhoScored averaging rating among all players who have played more than 100 minutes of football in the top five divisions in Europe so far this season, behind Solly March of Brighton (8.80).