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Real Madrid superstar Jude Bellingham has taken a cheeky dig at the Ballon d'Or for snubbing his teammate Rodrygo Goes, while also praising the Brazilian forward. This comes after Los Blancos secured a hard-fought 3-1 win over VfB Stuttgart on September 17, with Rodrgyo arguably one of the best players on the pitch.
The 23-year-old Brazilian was exciting to watch on the night, as he caused problems running down the flank for Stuttgart. He completed an impressive five dribbles, won four duels, and capped his performance with an assist for Kylian Mbappe, who opened the scoring.
Despite winning La Liga and the UEFA Champions League with Real Madrid last season, Rodrygo was not nominated for the Ballon d'Or. The case was different for seven other Los Blancos players, including Vinicius Junior, Bellingham, and Mbappe.
Following Mbappe's signing at the Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid's attacking trident has been widely recognized with the trio's initials "BMV". This stands for Bellingham, Mbappe, and Vinicius, but has notably left Rodrygo out, despite the Brazilian's consistency in their attack.
After Madrid's 1-1 draw against Mallorca on August 18, Rodrygo posted a now-deleted message on his official WhatsApp channel which complained (via GOAL):
"Last week they talked about the trio of Bellingham, Mbappe and Vini, but they are going to have to add the R of Rodrygo to that acronym. We have a quartet of attackers and the rest of the team."
After their win over Stuttgart, Jude Bellingham responded to Rodrygo's celebratory post on Instagram with the comment (via theMadridZone on X):
"Only the fools forget the R."
Real Madrid will return to La Liga this weekend (September 21) against Espanyol, and Rodrygo will be hoping to impact the proceedings once more.
Carlo Ancelotti praises Real Madrid wonderkid for Champions League debut goal
While Rodrygo played impressively in their first Champions League clash of the season, another player who impacted the game was Endrick. The young Brazilian forward came on for Jude Bellingham in the 80th minute, and in injury time, he scored their third goal of the game.
Carlo Ancelotti spoke about Endrick in the press conference after the game, following the forward's thunderous shot from distance to beat the goalkeeper. The Real Madrid manager said to Movistar (via GOAL):
"He has balls! Endrick had courage. It was the last move of the game. He was convinced he'd score. He went for the most difficult solution, but it went well. In these two days, he's shown himself to be brave, in every sense."
Endrick has become the youngest Los Blancos player to score in a Champions League game, and he will hope to continue this run of form with similar performances.
