He's world-class but the demands are mounting for Jude Bellingham

REAL MADRID always seemed destined to win a 15th European Cup last weekend and the manner of their 2-0 victory over Borussia Dortmund could hardly have been more predictable, the German side missing a host of chances before paying an inevitable price - but Jude Bellingham's story added enormous intrigue to an otherwise unsurprising outcome.

- Dan Kilpatrick

Bellingham, the Stourbridge-born midfielder, not only won the biggest club trophy in football at the end of an astonishing debut season for Real, but did so against his former club Dortmund and in his national stadium, Wembley.

At just 20, he is already a European and Spanish champion (named the best player in Spain this season), and a leading contender for the Ballon d'Or, and he can still finish the campaign by helping England to a first major trophy since 1966 at this summer's European Championship.

Understandably, there has not been so much buzz and expectation around an under-21 English player going into a major tournament since 18-year-old Wayne Rooney at Euro 2004, and already one of the biggest questions for Gareth Southgate, the England manager, is how best to use Bellingham in Germany.

By his own astonishing standards, however, Bellingham was quiet against Dortmund at Wembley on Saturday. He still finished with an assist - a simple pass for Vinicius Jr's decisive goal - but his influence on the run of play was relatively trivial.