2 weeks Ago By [email protected] (Tom Victor)
Former Atletico Madrid goalkeeper Roberto Jimenez has backed Jude Bellingham to end his scoreless streak in the Madrid Derby after the England star's five games without a goal in the fixture. Bellingham's Real Madrid welcome their neighbours to the Bernabeu on Saturday and things couldn't be much closer at the top. Los Blancos suffered a surprise and controversial 1-0 defeat at Espanyol in their last league game, allowing Atleti to close to within a point.
Espanyol and Atleti are the only La Liga sides Bellingham has failed to score against in two or more appearances. While he's only played twice against Real's most recent opponents, though, he has been up against Diego Simeone's side on five occasions in all competitions without finding the net. Saturday's game sees him go up against England team-mate Conor Gallagher , who moved to Spain from Chelsea over the summer.
And, while recognising Gallagher's quick adaptation to his new surroundings, Jimenez thinks the £88million man is the more likely match-winner. "i think he's always a player to have in mind to have special attention on him," Jimenez tells Mirror Football . "Even if he didn't score in the last games against Atletico he's a very dangerous player.
"Probably he didn't score because he has around him other players, top players, and probably he had another job to help the team to win. I think the two players [Gallagher and Bellingham] are very important for both teams. "Bellingham has probably been more regular in terms of minutes played and Gallagher is going in and out, also because of the Cholo [Simeone] style and the rotation of the players in the midfield positions.
I could say that I would put more attention on Bellingham in this game because i think he can make the difference more than Gallagher." Which English player will come out on top on Saturday? Have your say in the comments section Jimenez had a brief spell in the Premier League with West Ham , and suggests the difference between the English and Spanish top tiers comes mostly from the profile of games between those at the top and the bottom. While the big games are comparable when it comes to attention and build-up - certainly in the case of the Madrid Derby and El Clasico, he believes that experience of week-on-week intensity in England may have helped the likes of Gallagher - and Kieran Trippier and Matt Doherty at Atleti before him - recognise what's at stake.
"i've played in the Premier League so i can say the atmosphere, the importance, every single game in the Premier League is huge," he says. "I could say that even bigger than in La Liga, because the feeling is different. "In Spain sometimes if you have a match against one team of the high position of the table against one team in the low position of the table, sometimes we don't enjoy a lot, these kind of games are quite different.
But I think the players that are coming from the Premier League, they feel the quality of La Liga and also the difference in terms of speed on the ball, of possession, of passes. probably less contact than in the Premier League but in the stands the same vibes and the same emotion of the fans." The two Madrid clubs faced off in Champions League finals in 2014 and 2016, but Jimenez suggests a stage of any size turns this into a big game.
" It has this importance and the people feel like this, the people feel like it's not a normal match," he says. "It's not even considered as a La Liga match. it has its own name, the same like Barcelona and Real Madrid has the Clasico.
" Bellingham might be yet to score in a derby, but he made a telling contribution on the biggest club stage last season when he laid on Vinicius Junior's clincher in the Champions League final. Atleti boss Simeone provides a different kind of opposition, though, and Jimenez - who was a youngster at the club when the current manager was there as a veteran player - recognises this. "[Atleti] will face this game as a final, even if they consider themselves a better team or a worse team, because we know that Simeone likes sometimes to put themselves one step back of other teams," he says.
"Just so they don't have this pressure and give the pressure to the other team. "Of course [I saw elements of Simeone the manager in Simeone the player]. also we are seeing in his son, he has his son [Giuliano] in the squad and when you see his son playing it's like when we saw Diego Simeone playing on the pitch.
It's a very good deal for Atletico and it's also a very important way to send this message to the other players of the squad." Watch Real Madrid vs Atlético Madrid this Saturday at 8pm on LALIGATV. Showing ‘All of LALIGA, All in one place’, LALIGATV is available exclusively in the UK via Premier Sports, from just £7.
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