Jude Bellingham kicked off at team-mate Vinicius Jr for choosing to shoot rather than pass to him during Real Madrid’s 2-1 win at Celta Vigo on Saturday.

He gestured furiously, kicked the turf, and stormed away muttering to himself after the squandered chance, with Los Blancos 1-0 up in the first half after a Kylian Mbappe goal.

Carlo Ancelotti later praised the England star for having the ‘balls’ and ‘character’ to fume at his team-mate.

Vinicius Jr had the chance to flash a cross in to Bellingham but instead shot and missed from a tight angle and fell over – but he had beaten three men to work the chance.

Madrid could have been punished for it after Williot Swedberg equalised for the hosts but Vini atoned for his earlier profligacy with a neat winner after 66 minutes.

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Jude Bellingham was vexed at Vinicius Jr for deciding to shoot rather than cross to him

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The England star kicked the turf in frustration after Vini missed from a tight angle for Madrid

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Vini redeemed himself with a second-half winner to send Real Madrid level with Barcelona

The victory moved the LaLiga champions level on 24 points with Barcelona after 10 games, but Barca, resurgent under Hansi Flick, have a game in hand and play Sevilla tonight.

Amid fears that Bellingham’s spat with Vini could turn into something more serious, Ancelotti was quick to assuage any worry.

‘I haven’t seen that play you’re talking about, but if it has happened, it means that he has balls, character, and it seems good to me.

‘Honestly, I didn’t realize the play (had happened). I’ll watch it. But if he has reacted… let’s be calm, after the game they were talking, laughing. They have no problems.

‘The merit we have is that we always compete well, until the end.

‘We could have played better, yes, but the group was committed and knew how to suffer, because Celta also competed well, with intensity.

‘We took three important points thanks to a fantastic pass from [Luka] Modric [to Vincius].

Carlo Ancelotti was proud of Bellingham’s ‘balls’ and ‘character’ and quelled any fears about there being a rift between the two stars

Modric came off the bench to set up the winner and in the process became Madrid’s oldest-ever player at 39 years and 40 days, overtaking Ferenc Puskas.

Madrid are close to making LaLiga history, too. Ancelotti’s side have now gone 42 games unbeaten. The record of 43 is held by Barcelona, who they play on Saturday next week.

Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti is not concerned by midfielder Jude Bellingham‘s lack of goals this season, despite being pilloried by the Spanish press.

Ancelotti has said Bellingham fulfils an important role within his team’s current set-up and that he’s ‘very satisfied with [Bellingham’s] work’.

Bellingham, 21, enjoyed a stunning debut campaign at the Bernabeu in 2023-24 after his blockbuster move from Borussia Dortmund for an initial £88.5million fee.

The English star netted 23 goals and added 13 assists in just 42 matches as Real won LaLiga, the Champions League and the Spanish Super Cup.

However, Bellingham is yet to open his account this time around, with the midfielder having failed to score in nine matches in 2024-25, plus the final two games of 2023-24 – and the 21-year-old has subsequently been called out by Spanish paper Marca.

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Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti has launched a robust defence of Jude Bellingham

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Bellingham, 21, has been criticised by Spanish press for his lack of goals this season

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Ancelotti offered words of support to Bellingham, saying ‘he’s very satisfied’ with his work

At the same point last season, Bellingham had 10 goals and Marca labelled the midfielder as ‘going from 10 to zero in a year’.

‘We’re satisfied with his work, I’m very satisfied,’ Ancelotti told press. ‘He works a lot, he’s always present, he competes, he fights, he sacrifices himself.

‘It’s true he hasn’t scored the goals he scored last year, but the surprise isn’t this year, the surprise was last year, when he scored lots of goals which nobody expected and helped us a lot. The problem this year isn’t that we’re lacking Bellingham’s goals.

‘We’ve always scored goals, and we’ll always score, because we have talented players up front. For us, in this moment, the work he’s doing is more important than the goals the scored last year.’

Ancelotti also offered a robust defence of star forward Kylian Mbappe’s gameplay, who similarly drew criticism from press for his lack of involvement off the ball and in general play.

‘[I ask him] to score goals. I prefer him to score goals rather than pressing,’ Ancelotti said.

‘The centre forward role hasn’t changed for us, I ask the same of Mbappe that I asked Karim [Benzema], to be ready when we win the ball, and try to make a fast transition.’

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Bellingham has not scored a goal so far this season, after scoring 23 in all competition in his maiden year at the Bernabeu

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Ancelotti also deflected criticism of Kylian Mbappe saying he’s happy with his team play

The 65-year-old Italian was keen to impress that his team still aren’t performing to their best this season, and fans can expect improvements.

‘We aren’t 100%, obviously,’ he said. ‘We’ve got good results, but we have to improve in terms of our play, and little by little, we will… We have to defend better, as we did last year.

‘Right now the team is less solid, and we’re working on that.’