Bellingham confident Real ready for any opponent in CL play-offs
Agency :
Real will face either Man City or Celtic in the play-offs in February, with the winners over 2 legs advancing to the last 16 of Champions League (CL).
Jude Bellingham insisted Real Madrid would be ready for whoever they have to face in the Champions League play-offs and that the reigning champions are “starting to click” after their 3-0 win in Brest on Wednesday.
Bellingham scored Real’s second goal in between a double strike from Rodrygo Goes as the Spanish giants proved too strong for the French upstarts in Guingamp.
It was a third straight win to finish the league phase of the Champions League for Real after they started with three defeats in their first five outings, and that poor start is what led to them coming 11th in the standings.
They finished a point outside the top eight places which offered direct qualification for the last 16, and therefore enter Friday’s draw for the extra play-off round.
They already know that they will face either Manchester City or Celtic in the play-offs in February, with the winners over two legs advancing to the last 16 in March. “It was important to get the win and finish the group stage strong. I think we probably let ourselves down in a few of the games and that is the reason why we have ended up in the play-offs,” Bellingham told UEFA.com.
“No problem, we’ll try and face whatever obstacle comes with a better face and you can see that we are definitely starting to click as a team in the last few weeks.” Carlo Ancelotti’s side have won their last five matches in all competitions since a 5-2 pasting at the hands of Barcelona in the Spanish Super Cup final in Saudi Arabia on January 12.
Rodrygo opened the scoring against Brest just before the half-hour mark for Real with a low shot across goalkeeper Marco Bizot and in off the far post, moments after the Brazilian had a header expertly saved.
The visitors were missing Vinicius Junior through suspension and Kylian Mbappe was not on scoring form, having previously netted eight times in the last five games.
But that did not matter, as Real survived seeing Brest’s Ludovic Ajorque have a goal disallowed for a tight offside just after half-time before they went 2-0 ahead on 56 minutes.