As former Chelsea player Joe Cole put it during BT Sport's coverage of Tuesday's Champions League match, "it’s going to be a great summer" for Jude Bellingham.
The west London club overcame a one-goal first leg deficit to complete a comeback and advance to the quarter-finals at the expense of Borussia Dortmund and their talented teenager. Bellingham played every minute of the last 16 tie but could not prevent another relatively early exit from Europe.
A 98th-minute yellow card received for a late lunge on England international teammate Reece James, whom the 19-year-old was apologetic to in the aftermath, encapsulated the frustration of the night for him. Since favouring Dortmund over Manchester United when signing from Birmingham City in the summer of 2020, the German giants have won just a single knockout round tie.
