Ever since Kylian Mbappe joined Real Madrid, there appears to have been a minor issue in the Santiago Bernabeu dressing room. Los Blancos pursued Mbappe for several seasons before he eventually signed with PSG this summer, ending his affiliation with the team.

He scored his first goal in less than ninety minutes against Atalanta in last week’s European Super Cup final, winning him his first trophy in the storied white shirt.  There were already plenty of elite players at Real Madrid, so adding perhaps the greatest player in the world was never going to be an easy adjustment.  The main task for Carlo Ancelotti was to integrate Mbappe into a starting lineup that already had Rodrygo Goes, Jude Bellingham, and Vinicius Jr. One of the teams who won the Champions League the previous season seemed to have vanished from the spotlight as a result of Mbappe’s arrival.

Kylian Mbappe has already won his first piece of silverware since arriving at Real Madrid

Carlo Ancelotti faces a delicate balancing act slotting in the French superstar to his team

Jude Bellingham warmed up with Mbappe before Mallorca’s disappointing 1-1 defeat. It’s no wonder that BMV is quickly gaining popularity because the Spanish media is known for using acronyms to refer to La Liga’s top attacking trios, such as BBC (Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo) and MSN (Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Neymar Jr.).   However, Rodrygo is the only member of that trio (Bellingham, Mbappe, and Vinicius) who is still unaccounted for, and a message that was purportedly posted on his WhatsApp channel suggests that the Brazilian is not too like of this. The message, which was reportedly sent out on Monday, said, “We will have to add the R for Rodrygo to this acronym.  Last week, they talked about the trio Bellingham, Mbappe, and Vini.” El Chiringuito, however, claims that Rodrygo’s communications team—rather than the player himself—was responsible for releasing the statement.  It’s also thought that the message was removed to help prevent misunderstandings. Starting Sunday’s match against Mallorca, Rodrygo also scored his team’s goal in the 1-1 draw, stymieing Ancelotti and co. in their first league match of the season.  The starting lineup, which has Rodrygo and Vinicius Jr. on each side of Mbappe, is a good indicator of how the renowned Italian manager will arrange his team. Bellingham, Aurelien Tchouameni, and Federico Valverde formed a midfield three to start the game on the left side.

Footage of Bellingham (second left) telling Mbappe (right) and Vinicius Jnr (left) where they went wrong against Mallorca was shared after Real Madrid’s disappointing 1-1 draw

Bellingham complained during the match against Mallorca that “running back was f***ing hard.” Bellingham, in a post-match conversation with his teammates, instructed the attacking three to ‘complete the attack’ by shooting on target instead of giving up the ball, or else he will have to rush back in transition to support the defenders. The England international stated, “You three, we need to finish the attack because the running back… is f***ing hard,” in a post-match interview that Movistar was able to record. Mbappe continued, nodding in agreement with his new teammate: “That’s what I’m saying.” There is something we need to get done.