The Vinicius-Bellingham partnership has already revealed interesting things this season, but surely not as many as both of them and, above all, Carlo Ancelotti , would have liked. Because the fact is that the Brazilian and the Englishman, the team’s two top scorers this season (18 and 20 goals), have barely coincided in 19 of the 41 games played by the whites in 23-24 . The count will rise to 42 on the occasion of Athletic ‘s visit to the Bernabéu in the first match after the international break, which Vinicius will miss due to suspension.

The same circumstance, administrative punishment, has prevented Ancelotti from fielding Bellingham in Madrid’s last two games, against Celta and Osasuna . The team has not noticed the loss of the former Dortmund player, scoring four goals in each of those two games. Three of them, plus an assist, were signed by Madrid’s number 7, who in the 44th minute of the El Sadar duel saw his fifth yellow card in the League, which entails a one-match suspension.

Vinicius has seen eight yellow cards so far this season, one less from Bellingham, who also received a red card for his protests against Gil Manzano after the goal disallowed, or not conceded, in the last play of the Mestalla match , the last one the two Madrid stars played together. Most of those reprimands were for disciplinary reasons .

Injuries have also had to do with the lack of games with Jude and Vini together on the pitch. The winger has suffered two muscular mishaps so far this season , a type of ailment that had never affected him before in his career, which has prevented him from participating in a total of 13 games . For his part, Bellingham has missed seven , two due to his shoulder dislocation in mid-November and five due to the sprained ankle he suffered in the Bernabéu match against Girona .

In the 19 games in which they have met this season, between them they have generated six goals : four from Vini from a pass from Bellingham and two from the Englishman with an assist from the Brazilian.

Your last connection

His last connection was decisive for Real Madrid’s luck in the Champions League . Against Leipzig , in a match in which the whites suffered the unspeakable, a counterattack launched by Bellingham concluded with a pass behind the German defense that Vinicius converted into a goal with an accurate shot with his right foot. A key goal that could not be repeated in the Whites’ next two games, the last two in the League, nor will it be repeated in the next one, on March 31 (9:00 p.m.) against Athletic , another in which the strange couple of Madrid will not be able to coincide on the field of play.