Real Madrid vs Malaga: Mourinho reveals what he changed with Jude Bellingham

Jude Bellingham looks like he is loving life under Jose Mourinho.

The England midfielder was once again at the heart of everything as Real Madrid thrashed newly promoted Malaga 4-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu on Sunday, making it three wins from three in LaLiga this season.

Bellingham opened the scoring in the 19th minute with a brilliant individual goal, driving forward before finding the bottom corner with a low finish from the right.

He was also heavily involved in Madrid second goal, with Malaga unable to deal with his goalbound header.

It continues an excellent start to the season for Bellingham, who now has two goals and two assists from Madrid opening three league matches.

But perhaps the most interesting part is how much freedom Mourinho is giving him.

"Now I am a bit more free, with the freedom to move further up, and drop deep if we need it," Bellingham told Real Madrid TV.

"I am enjoying it a lot. That is why I am playing well."

And you can see exactly what he means.

Bellingham can do pretty much everything in midfield. There was one moment against Malaga when Eduardo Camavinga was a little complacent on the ball and lost possession. Who was there to recover it? Bellingham.

That is what he gives you.

He can defend, recover the ball, carry it forward, create chances and score goals. But as Mourinho pointed out after the game, Bellingham becomes an absolute menace when he is allowed to operate closer to goal.

"He's very demanding with himself, and with the rest," Mourinho said. "I like that a lot. I've told him that with my way of seeing football, I don't want to see him playing as a second left back.

"With Benfica, when we won against Real Madrid in the Champions League, that kept happening, Jude dropping deep on the left. He knows what he has to do. He feels comfortable doing it."

That could be one of the biggest changes for Bellingham under Mourinho.

Rather than asking him to constantly drop deep and cover areas far away from goal, Mourinho wants to give him the freedom to influence the game where he can be most dangerous.

We have already seen the results.

Bellingham scored in Madrid 2-1 victory over Espanyol in their opening game of the season before providing two assists in the 4 1 midweek win over Real Sociedad. He then followed that up with another goal and an impressive all round performance against Malaga.

But there was another Bellingham comment after Sunday game that Real Madrid fans will probably love even more.

Madrid were 3-0 up after just half an hour and eventually won 4-0, with the final goal arriving in the 91st minute. For most players, that would be a comfortable afternoon and a job well done.

Bellingham was not completely satisfied.

"It was a great game, but the last 20 minutes were really bad, really bad," he said. "I don't know why, we weren't good."

That tells you plenty about his mentality.

His team had just won 4-0. He had scored, Madrid had maintained their perfect start to the season and he had received a standing ovation from the Bernabeu when he was substituted in the 87th minute.

Yet Bellingham was still thinking about the period when Madrid dropped their standards.

"It's very special, always," Bellingham said about the ovation. "It's an honour to play for this club, at this stadium. The ovation was really nice."

Mourinho has also been impressed by the developing chemistry between Bellingham, Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior.

But with Bellingham, the biggest difference could simply be where Mourinho is allowing him to play.

We already know he can do almost everything on a football pitch. But the closer Bellingham gets to the opposition goal, the more dangerous he becomes.

And Mourinho clearly knows it.