Carlo Ancelotti has defended Jude Bellingham‘s Real Madrid form, saying the work he’s doing for the team this season is “more important” than scoring goals.

Bellingham hasn’t found the net in nine games for Madrid this season, after scoring 23 club goals in all competitions last campaign.

The England midfielder’s role in the team has evolved since the arrival of Kylian Mbappé, starting on the right-hand side of the attack in Madrid’s 2-1 LaLiga win away at Celta Vigo on Saturday.

“We’re satisfied with his work, I’m very satisfied,” Ancelotti said in a news conference on Monday ahead of Madrid’s Champions League game with Borussia Dortmund. “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.”

Madrid host Barcelona in LaLiga in El Clásico on Saturday, three points behind the league leaders.

Mbappé scored against Celta — and has six league goals this season — and Ancelotti said he’s not concerned by criticism of the France international’s work off-the-ball.

“[I ask him] to score goals,” Ancelotti said. “I prefer him to score goals rather than pressing. The centre forward role hasn’t changed for us, I ask the same of Mbappé that I asked Karim [Benzema], to be ready when we win the ball, and try to make a fast transition.”

Madrid are unbeaten in LaLiga this season, but haven’t always convinced — including against Celta — while rivals Barça beat Sevilla 5-1 on Sunday.

“We aren’t 100%, obviously,” Ancelotti 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.”