Carlo Ancelotti might use Jude Bellingham as striker: Football pundit Donald Hutchinson ahead of Champions League final

Rajarshi has been part of Khel Now since 2022, and he covers world football.

Published at :May 31, 2024 at 5:09 PM

Modified at :May 31, 2024 at 5:11 PM

Carlo Ancelotti might use Jude Bellingham as striker: Football pundit Donald Hutchinson ahead of Champions League final

Hutchinson is a former Liverpool player

Donald Hutchison is a retired professional football player who was born on May 9, 1971. Hutchison is a football analyst and analyst for ESPN FC and Talksport on television.

Hutchison was a midfielder in the Premier League who was a member of Everton, Sunderland, West Ham United, and Liverpool. He also participated in Football League games for Millwall, Coventry City, Sheffield United, Hartlepool United, and Luton Town. Hutchison, an Englishman by birth, has six goals in 26 appearances for the Scotland national team.

In an interactive session with Hutchinson regarding the Real Madrid vs Dortmund Champions League final the former Everton star gave his opinion of our question and he feels Sancho could be a big difference-maker in the final, take a look below to know more.

Should Carlo Ancelotti start Jude Bellingham as a striker? In his interview, he said he would want the midfielder to be present all the time in the opposition box.

Donald Hutchinson: I think he might use Bellingham as a striker and use Vincius Junior on the left and Rodrygo on the right. They have all the qualities in midfield, so playing him as a false No. 9 won’t be a problem for them. Joeslu is another No. 9 they have who scored winning goals against Bayern in the second leg. But how does Carlo see Joselu? Is he more suited to coming off the bench? So I feel Bellingham suits more in terms of playing as No. 9 and 10 in the games, and he is a really exciting player to watch.

With Eder Militao returned from ACL injury will Carlo Ancelotti risk and play him or use Nacho with Rudiger at the back?

Donald Hutchinson: It’s a difficult one that Militao is returning from ACL, and also the goalkeeper worries for the Italian manager with Lunin out of the tournament, and Ancelotti now has Courtois and Kepa between the sticks. But in defence, that’s the position that has troubled Ancelotti, and he has Nacho, who has been great, and Carvajal switching to centre-back. But what I think is that Ancelotti will work on the game plan before the match, depending on who plays at the back, and he will make sure he also has a midfield player like Kroos and Modric trying to protect.

Since his move to Dortmund on loan Sancho seems to have found his form and against PSG he was one of the players on the pitch so do you think he will be big difference-maker against Real?

Donald Hutchinson: Oh, he can. As we have seen, he has been a completely different player at United, and it tells you one or two things: how they couldn’t handle him, how he didn’t get trained very well by the manager and the coaching staff, and then he went back to Dortmund, and now he looks like a completely different player. Talk about street football and how he got his confidence back. It seems like his hunger is back, and thus, I think from the Dortmund point of view, they will pick one match-winner; they would mention Sancho for sure.

Watch the UEFA Champions League 2023-24 Final between Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid on 2nd June 2024 from 12:30 AM onwards LIVE on Sony Sports Ten 2 SD & HD, Sony Sports Ten 3 SD & HD (Hindi), Sony Sports Ten 4 SD & HD (Tamil & Telugu).

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Rajarshi Shukla

After earning a bachelor's degree in mass media, Rajarshi began his career as a sports writer in 2019, driven by his passion for sports journalism. He has been working in the field for over six years. A devoted fan of Lionel Messi and Barcelona, Rajarshi has been involved in sports since childhood. Before turning his focus to journalism, he even represented his college at the state level. Along with covering football, he enjoys playing the game, watching movies, and experimenting with new recipes in his spare time, as cooking is one of his favorite hobbies.