Hridyam

Jude Bellingham’s rise feels inevitable now, but before the world noticed, one town had already seen it coming. I spoke to fans at Stourbridge about him, his dad, and wrote about the town that holds so much importance in Bellingham's heart. Read here: managingmadrid.com/2025/2/13…

I love Jose Mourinho's press conferences at Real Madrid.

An absolute monster. Made a mistake on Torino's goal, but made up for it with an excellent performance afterwards and an equaliser. Jacobo Ramon has to be brought back to Real Madrid next season.

The player who did the least number of interviews ends up winning the Ballon d'Or. Harry Kane deserves it. Just hope this will be a lesson learned for nominees next year. No more campaigning, please!

Real Madrid needed to get into this mindset of being the underdogs. They worked hard, won so many duels, and had the one thing that's been missing from their performances since last October's Clasico: cojones. Huge defensive shifts from Fede, Cucurella, Konate, Tchouameni

Two goals and an assist for Nico Paz, and a goal and another solid defensive display from Jacobo Ramon for Como against Manchester United. A brilliant day for these two Real Madrid academy graduates, and for the many RM fans who still follow their progress in Italy.

Arda Guler is levitating right now. Some player.

4 of the 5 Real Madrid players fans desperately want to see more of came on as subs and changed the game. Some more than others, but the point still stands. Almost like the team is better without some of these spoiled 'starters' who don't show even half of the same desire.

Despite the comeback, Real Madrid are still awful. The only way out of this is if Jose Mourinho understands the dire need to make big, sensible decisions. Even then, this is worse than expected. At least Endrick and Espi are great. No wonder fans want to see them play.

Did we all watch the same game as Jose Mourinho? A top class performance that mustered an xG of 0.13?

Two last-minute winners, and another late equaliser ruled out, from Carlos Espi already this season, and he's rewarded with a seat on the bench for the full 90 minutes. Bernardo Silva brought on in the last few minutes. Abhorrent subs.

Even when Real Madrid had Huijsen on the pitch, they were nowhere near winning. In the entire game, they've mustered an xG of just 0.13. That's awful. Real Madrid have looked toothless and lethargic in attack and midfield, and their CB threw away the game. Failures all round.

Dean Huijsen had a terrible performance against Atletico Madrid last season, which caused a bad run of form for the defender. A red card and penalty today. Hopefully his season isn't derailed like it was a year ago.

There have been many problems defensively, especially at the start of the game. Inter have an xG of 0.78 despite taking 11 shots, but It's not been great at all - although there have been some brilliant blocks from Real Madrid defenders. Huge improvements needed.

Vinicius Jr has been hounding Inter with constant pressing. Loving it. Real Madrid's counter-press in general has been brilliant because they've realised how much Inter are overthinking while holding on to the ball for long stretches. Also, Konate = amazing. Not done too much, but he's been very assuring all season. Ditto today.

This is an abysmal deal if Real Madrid don't keep any control of his future. If he reaches his potential, he will be worth a lot more than the 10 million Real Madrid receive. He's the closest profile to Rodri that the club has had in years, and is bound to be a good player.

Your football knowledge litmus test is basically how highly you rate Jude Bellingham. What an exceptional baller. Genuinely think he's Real Madrid's most important player.