Jude Bellingham admits Real Madrid are suffering from 'huge loss' of 'irreplaceable' star

Jude Bellingham spoke candidly about Real Madrid needing to adapt to the "huge" loss of an "irreplaceable" player after their 3-1 UEFA Champions League win over Stuttgart .

The defending champions got their 2024/25 campaign off to a victorious start at the Santiago Bernabeu on Tuesday as Kylian Mbappe, Antonio Rudiger and Endrick secured three points against last season's Bundesliga runners-up.

Yet Carlo Ancelotti's men did not have things all their own way. Stuttgart dominated the ball in the early exchanges and only some good goalkeeping from Thibaut Courtois, plus a bad miss from Enzo Millot, denied the German side the opening goal.

Even after they fell behind within a minute of the second half starting, Stuttgart continued to play positively and fully deserved their equaliser through Deniz Undav.

WATCH: UEFA Champions League with a FREE trial of Paramount+ in USA | A new era of UEFA Champions League in Australia, only on Stan Sport

Rudiger's late header came from a corner by substitute Luka Modric, before Endrick struck on the counter-attack with the last kick of the game to inflict upon Stuttgart an unfairly one-sided scoreline.

Jude Bellingham admits Real Madrid star is 'huge loss'

Bellingham, who made his return from injury in the match, felt part of the problem for Madrid was the lack of control they used to have in midfield when Toni Kroos was the heartbeat of the team.

Kroos retired after Euro 2024 and Madrid did not sign an obvious replacement — not that Bellingham believes that would have been an easy task.

MORE: All the latest Champions League news | How does the 2024/25 Champions League work? | Full UCL match schedule

"They're a really good team. We gave up far too many chances," he admitted to TNT Sports in the UK. "I thought we pressed well at times, but as soon as they got past the initial line of pressure, they seemed to cause us problems.

"We're probably waiting for it to fully click, but we've shown we can win when not at our best. We try and take the positive and work with the negatives.

"It's definitely a new-look team. We've changed a few things. The loss of Toni is huge in terms of our rhythm and the way we play. He's such a special player. He's irreplaceable. We have to find different ways to cover."

Madrid's second game of the new-look Champions League league phase is away to French side Lille on October 2.