Real Madrid forward Rodrygo Goes has certainly been the middle child of Los Blancos’ summer, with the arrival of Kylian Mbappe taking the spotlight, and many tipping Rodrygo to be the one to fall out of the team as a result.
Yet Carlo Ancelotti certainly hasn’t paid too much attention to that so far, starting Jude Bellingham, Vinicius Junior, Mbappe and Rodrygo in their opening two matches. It was the latter that unlocked the RCD Mallorca defence with a brilliant strike on Sunday night, their only goal of the game.
Este mensaje en el canal de WhatsApp de Rodrygo es real. Se borró tras cierta polémica con él.
A mí me parece correcto y entiendo que reivindique al equipo y en especial a sí mismo después de que se le dejara fuera del tridente; cualquiera se sentiría igual. @TheAthleticFC pic.twitter.com/RSZhejJ7q1
— Mario Cortegana (@MarioCortegana) August 19, 2024
Late on Monday, a screenshot appeared of a message supposedly from the Real Madrid forward, saying that an ‘R’ would have to be added to the BMV acronym referencing Bellingham, Mbappe and Vinicius.
"Talk, people. The result yesterday was not the desired one. In La Liga, every point can make a difference at the end. I'm happy for the goal and the growth of the team."
"Last week, people were speaking about the trio of Bellingham, Mbappe and Vini, but you will have to add an… pic.twitter.com/BVWyeht5DO
— Football España (@footballespana_) August 20, 2024
The Athletic have since confirmed this message was legitimate. It is hard not to see this as an explicit reference to Marca, who coined the term and spread it across their front cover on Friday morning of last week.
The 23-year-old is admired by Manchester City, but has been at pains to make it clear he is going nowhere. With Ancelotti pointing to a lack of attitude, commitment and balance as the flaws in their draw against Mallorca though, the offensive quartet will surely be on alert, and dropping any of the other three seems almost unthinkable at this point.
