Gary Lineker has admitted he sees shades of Manchester United legend Bryan Robson in Borussia Dortmund and England sensation Jude Bellingham.
The ex-Three Lions star took to Twitter to make the comparison during Manchester City's home clash with Dortmund, which saw Bellingham bag his side's only goal of the game in a 2-1 defeat at the Etihad. Lineker wrote: "I'll be very surprised if @BellinghamJude doesn't play a big part in England's World Cup campaign. Got a bit of Bryan Robson about him."
Bellingham got in front of his man to guide a header beyond the helpless Ederson between the City sticks, sparking wild celebrations in the away end from the travelling Dortmund faithful. For 25 minutes, it looked as if that goal would be enough to hand the Bundesliga all three points and a memorable Champions League group stage win.
But as City have done so many times under boss Pep Guardiola, they simply refused to be beaten and in the 80th minute, centre-back John Stones unleashed a fierce right-footed strike that was in the back of the net before Dortmund keeper Alexander Meyer could even realise what had happened.
Four minutes later and City were in front, their winner coming from a man Dortmund are all too familiar with in ex-Signal Iduna Park hero Erling Haaland. The Norwegian international broke the hearts of his former fans with an acrobatic effort that even Bellingham praised after the game.
The goal sparked comparisons with Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the prolific Swedish star. Bellingham was asked if the winner was "Zlatanesque?" - but instead he simply replied: "Well, Erlingesque."
HAVE YOUR SAY! Will Bellingham play a big part for England at the World Cup later this year? Comment below
Lineker was not the only ex-England star to wax lyrical over Bellingham, Own Hargreaves claimed the way the teenager operates is "not normal". Analysing his performance on BT Sport, former Manchester United midfielder Hargreaves added: "The way he speaks and plays for a 19-year-old is not normal.
"Popping up and scoring against City, he's a Swiss-army knife. He's up there with the best. Jude can be physical like Stevie G [Steven Gerrard] and play balls over the top, those are the players you've got to worry about. He starts for me [at the World Cup] definitely."
Bellingham has already shown he can cut it at the elite international level, having made history when he featured for England at Euro 2020 and became the youngest Englishman to play at any major tournament.
That appearance did also briefly make him the youngest player from any country to play in a European Championship, but that record was remarkably broken just six days later by Poland's Kacper Kozlowski.
