JUDE HEARTACHE

Tears as Dortmund blow title... with Real set to move for Bellingham

BY the end, it was all too much for him. Jude Bellingham paced around, rubbed his forehead and a bit into a fluorescent green bib as his emotions took over. Moments later, he was lying flat on the ground with a broken heart

The dream of delivering the Bundesliga trophy to Borussia Dortmund had died in front of his eyes and there was nothing he could do to prevent it. Football, we know, is the most wonderful sport but, on days such as these, its cruelty cuts you to the bone.

Dortmund, had played wretchedly against Mainz in the game they were expected to win and were losing 2-1 but, for eight minutes late in the game, the title was in their hands. Bayern Munich had slipped in the game they were expected to win against Cologne and this was going to be enough.

But then news arrived that Jamal Musiala had pounced for Bayern and, at the same time, put a dagger through Dortmund hearts. How Bellingham wanted to be out there but the truth is Superman could have been wearing yellow and black and he wouldn’t have been able to save this young team.

They came to rue a ruinous opening 25 minutes in which they conceded two cheap goals and missed a penalty. What a crying shame a fine season should end this way for Bellingham.

‘Jude was fighting every day to get back into the team — it was a tough decision not to play him,’ said Edin Terzic, Dortmund’s head coach. ‘It was too tight. Hopefully he’s going to recover as quick as possible. He didn’t feel well this morning, he didn’t feel well before the game.

‘He told us he didn’t feel ready to start the game and if we needed him, we could put him on for a couple of minutes, Of course he’s very sad and emotional like the others, he’s one of the main reasons why we’re in the situation.

‘But I am quite sure he’s a winner and he’ll win so many trophies in his career. For that he needs to stay fit and healthy and recover as quickly as possible.’

It was, Terzic said, too early to say whether Bellingham, who has had strapping on his right knee for several months, would be fit for England’s games against Malta and North Macedonia next month.

Bellingham has been through a lot these past 12 months, mentally and physically, and he looked emotionally empty as he stood in front of Dortmund’s famed Yellow Wall at the end, clapping them, gesturing as if he was apologising and then giving one fan his shirt as a souvenir.

Bayern have now won 11 titles in a row and you have to wonder when Dortmund will get as close to them again: they had moved mountains after selling Erling Haaland and Manuel Akanji to Manchester City last summer to even get into this position.

Without Bellingham, how compelling would their fightback be? Dortmund insist they have not received any approach for him but it is inevitable a bid of more than £100million will arrive eventually from Real Madrid, who believe they have as good as secured his signature. When it does, he will still be thinking about this.

Outside the stadium before kickoff, some fans were behaving as if this was a foregone conclusion. They sang, they set off flares, they wore No 9 jerseys and carried paper versions of the Bundesliga shield, ready to celebrate.

When the smoke from the prematch pyrotechnics billowed away, you hoped Dortmund would be left with clear minds but, really, the tumult had left them befuddled. Mainz didn’t have anything riding on this but they were good enough to inflict maximum damage.

They took the lead with their first attack when Andreas Hanche-Olsen scored at the near post from a corner and you knew just what kind of afternoon it would be when Sebastien Haller squandered an immediate chance to atone. His weak penalty, given after a VAR intervention, was saved by Mainz keeper Finn Dahmen.

If that was bad, the nadir arrived in the 24th minute when Karim Onisiwo rose to meet a cross. His header was precise but goalkeeper Gregor Kobel will wonder whether he could have done more to stop it squirming from his grasp and over the line.

With Munich ahead in Cologne through Leroy Sane, a miracle was needed in the second half and while Dortmund improved, scoring in the 68th minute through Raphael Guerreiro, they never convinced that they had a grandstand finish.

Salvation seemed likely with news of Cologne’s equaliser but it was quickly snuffed out. Dortmund scored an equaliser of their own through Niklas Sule in added time but it was too little, too late.

Now realisation had set in: instead of being guests at a party, fans had attended a wake.