Phil Foden and Jude Bellingham proved England’s future is now in Manchester City vs Dortmund
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Updated 07/04/2021 at 09:24 GMT
Phil Foden, 20, and 17-year-old Jude Bellingham were among the standout performers in Tuesday’s Champions League quarter-final at the Etihad Stadium. Foden scored a late winner, while Bellingham was controversially denied a first-half goal, and City’s slender 2-1 lead means it is all to play for in next week’s second leg.
Phil Foden scored the winner on the night as Man City beat Dortmund 2-1
Image credit: Getty Images
At the end of the match at the Etihad Stadium, two 20-year-olds from opposing teams embraced and covered their mouths, as is custom in football, when exchanging a few words.
One of those players was Erling Haaland, the Borussia Dortmund striker who dominated build-up to the Champions League quarter-final first leg given his goalscoring form in this competition and the fact his agent embarked on a European tour to discuss his client’s future last week.
The other player was the match-winner - Manchester City’s Phil Foden.
Caption competitions took place after the full-time whistle on social media. “Manchester City’s future” and the like, but while Haaland’s destination this summer is unknown, City know they at least already have one of the prize assets in world football in Foden.
Carefully managed by Pep Guardiola since breaking into the first team, Foden is enjoying the season many hoped he would do after David Silva’s departure.
He’s still not in every starting XI Guardiola names – who is among their midfielders and forwards – but he has already racked up more minutes in the Premier League and Champions League this season than the last two campaigns combined.
From an England perspective the progression has been a joy to watch. To have Kevin De Bruyne beside you, Gabriel Jesus up top – with Sergio Aguero and Raheem Sterling remaining on the bench - and still be the player to score a winning goal in a Champions League quarter-final match. That is special.
The PFA Young Player of the Year award is surely Foden’s already, while it remains a season where he could end up helping City lift four trophies.
With each match that passes, he is also looking more and more likely to start – or at least play a prominent role off the bench – for England at the Euros this summer.
Gareth Southgate will have liked what he saw on Tuesday night, for then you also have Jude Bellingham.
It’s safe to say the 17-year-old earned another wave of fans with his performance against City.
The England teenager defies his age with his displays in the middle of the park. It was the case against Sevilla in the previous round, and on this occasion he was controversially denied a goal that could have made it 1-1 some 58 minutes before Dortmund eventually levelled the scores.
"I definitely think I won the ball fairly,” Bellingham told BT Sport afterwards. “It's a bit frustrating in a time when they've got so many cameras watching the game they don't wait for me to put the ball in the net and then check it.
“It's football, it's life, just got to get on with it. All I've been told is I've been booked and it's a free kick for them. I think they should have checked it. Apparently I've got my studs up, caught the goalkeeper and it's a foul."
A measured response from a teenager who first made his mark at Birmingham City before venturing to Dortmund last year.
His England spot this summer is less assured, but that hardly matters given what he is already doing is simply not typical of a 17-year-old footballer.
Bellingham was the second youngest starter in quarter-final history, and while surrounded by superstars he shone just as brightly as Foden, the third-youngest Englishman to score in a Champions League quarter-final.
The only pity for England is that both are unable to play in the semis.
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