Birmingham’s Jobe Bellingham remains a work-in-progress at Borussia Dortmund. Amid all the controversy over his playing time and some high profile mistakes, however, the youngster retains the backing of most all associated with his Bundesliga club. It does nevertheless remain the case that the 20-year-old hasn’t recorded a scorer point in the league or featured in one of BVB head coach Niko Kovac’s Bundesliga starting XIs since August.
Non-Bundesliga competitions are another matter. Bellingham started and played the full 120 minutes in Dortmund’s domestic cup shootout win over Eintracht Frankfurt on Tuesday. Kovac also opted to start Bellingham in Dortmund’s last Champions League fixture against FC Copenhagen. Bellingham again went the full distance and collected two assists.
The two UCL assists served as Bellingham’s first scorer points recorded for his German club since this past summer’s Club World Cup. Such an accomplishment does mean something as the younger brother of former Dortmund man and Real Madrid superstar Jude Bellingham continues to fight for BVB minutes.
The fact that Jobe – used off the bench in Friday night’s drab Bundesliga victory over Augsburg – was one of the few BVB bright spots may also mean something. Kovac seemed to suggest that he would be turning to Bellingham again against Manchester City in the Champions League this week.
“He’s progressing faster than anticipated,” Kovac told Sky Germany. “Because the lad really does have a lot of quality. He has presence, good physicality, and a quality of play that he also brought to the field here in Augsburg in his 30-minute-shift.“
