Real Madrid announced on Sunday that Jude Bellingham would be unavailable for their Champions League Round of 16 game against RB Leipzig on Tuesday night, but Marco Rose believes the Spanish giants could be bluffing over the Englishman’s fitness.
“I won’t believe that Jude will be out until he’s not in the stadium tomorrow,” said Rose at Monday’s press conference. “He might see other doctors today in order to be fit. I’ve read a lot but we’ll see if he’s here or not.”
Bellingham has lost four of the six games he played against RB Leipzig during his time at Borussia Dortmund, and failed to score and assist, but this season at Real, the Englishman is a man on a mission.
The 20-year-old has 28 goal contributions (20 goals, eight assists) in 29 games across all competitions this season under Carlo Ancelotti.
Regardless of who plays in midfield for Real, Leipzig’s Nicolas Seiwald and Xaver Schlager face a busy night ahead against one of the favourites for the competition.
But don’t rule RB Leipzig out just yet. They may have won just one of their last six games across all competitions, but they know what it takes. They made it all the way to the Champions League semi-final in the 2019/20 season, losing out to Paris Saint-Germain.
Benjamin Šeško is also one to watch for Leipzig, with three goals in three successive games.
