Practice makes perfect for Bellingham after first Dortmund goal

Jobe Bellingham wants to follow in the footsteps of his older brother Jude and become a consistent goal threat from midfield.

Bellingham netted his first goal for Borussia Dortmund on his first start for the club, volleying home via a deflection during Saturday's 4-3 win over Mamelodi Sundowns at the Club World Cup.

Lucas Ribeiro Costa's 11th-minute goal sparked a topsy-turvy contest at TQL Stadium, with Felix Nmecha, Serhou Guirassy and Bellingham putting Dortmund 3-1 up at half-time.

Khuliso Mudau's own goal saw Dortmund extend their lead just before the hour mark, but efforts from Iqraam Rayners and Lebo Mothiba gave the Sundowns some hope.

Having seen his sibling become one of the most effective attacking midfielders in the world across his time at Dortmund and now Real Madrid, Bellingham is hoping his goalscoring full debut will be a sign of things to come.

"It's a really nice bonus. I am glad we won but there are still a lot of things for me to improve on personally and for the team. I am really pleased with it," the former Sunderland midfielder told DAZN.

"I practise that so many times, not that exact finish, but arriving late on the edge of the box as a midfielder is something you need to be really good at.

"If you can score, if you can contribute those kind of goals a certain amount per season then you are doing really well.

"I was really pleased because it was something I practised as a kid and at Sunderland so many times, during training, after training. I am really proud of it."

Only Guirassy (seven) had more touches in the opposition box among Dortmund players than Bellingham (four), who completed an impressive 85.7% (18/21) of his passes and won three out of six duels.

At the age of 19 years and 271 days, Bellingham became the second-youngest goalscorer at this edition of the Club World Cup, older than only Paris Saint-Germain's Senny Mayulu (19 years, 29 days).

Dortmund face Ulsan HD in their final Group F game, with a point enough to guarantee their progression into the last 16. 

Ulsan have lost all six of their matches at the Club World Cup, including the previous format. They have held a lead in three of those games, including against Fluminense on Saturday, in an encounter they went on to lose 4-2.

Dortmund have attempted just 15 shots across their two Club World Cup matches, the fewest of any side in Group F so far, and even though they scored four times against the Sundowns, they created chances worth only 1.72 expected goals.

Niko Kovac, though, believes the sweltering conditions in Cincinnati, with the match kicking off at 12pm local time, did not help his team.

"I'm sweating like I've just come out of a sauna," Kovac told DAZN.

"It was tough going for both teams, but the opposition are used to it. We certainly didn't give our best performance, but that wasn't possible.

"There were too many simple mistakes and things definitely didn't run smoothly. The important thing was that we won the game. Nothing else matters."