Thursday, April 15, 2021 at 8:48 AM• Rian Rosendaal • Last update: 09:02

Josep Guardiola praises Jude Bellingham after Manchester City’s triumph in the quarterfinals of the Champions League. The seventeen-year-old attacking midfielder signed on Wednesday evening in a brilliant way for the opening goal of Borussia Dortmund, although it turned out that it was not enough to the Citizens stop: 1-2. Guardiola can hardly believe that the surefire Bellingham is only seventeen years old.

“I can’t believe it, maybe it’s a liar!”, Guardiola praised the youngest English player ever to score in the Champions League with a joke after the captivating diptych in the quarter-final of the billion dollar ball. “For a seventeen-year-old he is so very good, he is really a fantastic player.” The Manchester City manager thinks Bellingham is already very mature playing: “There was a situation where he was not played by his central defenders. How he then screams at 17 years old and just claims the ball is really impressive.”

“I spoke to their manager, Edin Terzic, who told me that what you saw of him in these two games is exactly the same as any Dortmund practice,” the enthusiastic Guardiola continues of the tastemaker. BVB, after Bojan Krkic the youngest player ever to score in the quarter finals of the Champions League. The former was 17 years and 218 days old when he scored for Barcelona against Schalke 04 in 2008. Bellingham hit goal against Manchester City when the Englishman was 17 years and 289 days old.

In addition to Bellingham, Guardiola is also full of praise for Phil Foden, Wednesday evening matchwinner from Manchester City in Dortmund. “He’s really someone who never hides during matches, he always has a solution”, the great talent of the semi-finalist receives as a great compliment. “He is responsible for two very important goals. The second goal against Dortmund in the Etihad Stadium and today (Wednesday, ed.) He shot us to the semi-finals. He has really grown as a player. In the quarterfinals Phil was the big star. , which puts us now facing Paris Saint-Germain, “said the overjoyed Guardiola.