Jude Bellingham aiming for another win against the club who helped make him a global superstar

Jude Bellingham became a global football superstar in-the-making during his three seasons at Borussia Dortmund.

Tonight in the quarter-finals of the FIFA Club World Cup, where every game is live and free on DAZN, he faces them for the third time in the famous white jersey of Real Madrid.

The England midfielder, 22, is aiming to complete a hat-trick of victories against his erstwhile employers.

He starred in the 2-0 Champions League final win at Wembley in June 2024 and in a 5-2 group-stage home victory in the competition four months later.

Despite having grown accustomed to sticking the knife into Dortmund, the club will always have a special place in Bellingham’s heart.

The German giants played a huge role in shaping him into the player he is today and it came as no surprise when his younger brother Jobe chose to join Dortmund this summer.

Jobe, 19, will hope to enjoy a similar career trajectory there and it is a crying shame that he is suspended for the Club World Cup quarter-final against Madrid.

Facing his brother for the first time, in a game of this magnitude, would have been some story.

Instead, in the Bellingham family at least, the last-eight showdown at the MetLife Stadium will all be about Jude as he goes in search of another win against Dortmund to take Madrid into the semi-finals.

Real Madrid vs. Juventus | FIFA Club World Cup Extended Highlights

Bellingham is an incredible talent. I first watched him in the flesh for Birmingham City in a Championship game against Leeds United at St Andrew’s in December 2019.

The game itself was a joy to behold – Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds side won 5-4 – but Bellingham, then just 16, certainly caught the eye.

He scored a goal and looked such a talent; quick, skilful on the ball, authoritative. Imposing.

In August 2019, Bellingham broke the record of former England striker Trevor Francis as Birmingham’s youngest player, when he made his first-team debut aged 16 years 38 days.

He also scored the winner against Stoke on his home debut.

At the end of that season, Bellingham took the plunge and moved to Dortmund.

It was some leap of faith, but their recent impressive history of developing young players, most notably Jadon Sancho and Christian Pulisic, proved persuasive.

Bellingham arrived in Germany with huge pressure and a £25million price tag on his shoulders but immediately thrived.

He started out as a deep-lying midfielder but gradually grew as an attacking force, a fact backed up his stats.

In the 90 appearances he made in his first two seasons at Dortmund, he scored 10 goals.

His 42 games in his third and final season there harvested a highly impressive 14 goals.

The Bundesliga title eluded him, but Bellingham won the German Cup alongside Erling Haaland and Jadon Sancho in 2021 for his only trophy in three seasons at BVB.

After joining Madrid in an £88.5m deal in the summer of 2023, Bellingham scored 23 goals in 41 games in his debut campaign in Spain’s capital.

He was the third highest scorer in La Liga with 19 goals – more than Robert Lewandowski, Antoine Griezmann and Alvaro Morata.

That first season saw Bellingham help Madrid to the La Liga title and the Spanish Super Cup before ending in a glorious crescendo with a 2-0 win over Dortmund in the Champions League final at Wembley.

Then came the European Championships in Germany, where Bellingham helped England into the final where they lost 2-1 to Spain.

I was in Gelsenkirchen last June to see Bellingham produce a stunning overhead kick to equalise against Slovakia and avert a humiliating tournament exit.

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Harry Kane headed in an extra-time winner for the Three Lions, but Bellingham’s goal was a moment of genius and will live long in the memory bank.

The past season was easy for anyone at Madrid.

They endure their first campaign without a trophy since 2020/21 and Carlo Ancelotti left the club.

Xabi Alonso took over ahead of the Club World Cup and is unbeaten in four games, a run which has taken Los Blancos into this weekend’s quarter-final and set up Bellingham’s Dortmund reunion.

He has scored one goal so far, in the second round of group fixtures against Pachuca – but would surely love nothing more than to score against Dortmund for the first time and help Madrid into the semi-finals.

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