Jude Bellingham: "Erling Haaland's even better guy than he is a striker!"
Jude Bellingham has lavished praise on Erling Haaland after helping the Norwegian to yet another Bundesliga brace in Borussia Dortmund's 3-1 win over Mainz.
Bellingham, 18, provided the pass for Haaland to complete his fourth double of the campaign, and take his tally to 49 Bundesliga goals in as many games.
bundesliga.com caught up with the England international to get his thoughts on Haaland, Dortmund's table-topping win, playing in front of the BVB faithful and the upcoming UEFA Champions League Group C encounter with Ajax...
Jude Bellingham...
... on Erling Haaland
"I stand here every week and tell you how great he is. The only thing more I can say that the player that you see isn’t a fluke. He doesn’t just turn up after a week on the sun bed, and go out and play. He works his socks off every day to be a better striker. And he's an even better guy than he is a striker!"
Watch: Jude Bellingham talks up Erling Haaland
The win over Mainz...
"It’s frustrating to concede like we did, unopposed and not really under too much pressure. It puts us under a bit of pressure as a team to stay in the game and keep the lead, but then look at the way we reacted. We got another goal to put the game to bed. To make the goal is always nice, but to confirm the win is really nice, I couldn’t run around because I was already dead, so I looked to the skies instead. We can be really happy with how we reacted, but I think football’s brilliant when you’ve still got things to improve on. Otherwise it’d be a boring game. We’ve got to try and improve. That’s why we love playing the game because every week you want to prove you’re better than the last week."
Watch: Dortmund 3-1 Mainz - in 60 seconds!
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Starting every game for Dortmund so far in 2021/20...
"I’d play every single day, if I have to, for this team. Until I can’t run, I’ll keep playing so whenever that might be I’ll get a rest. We have a really good team, we have a really talented squad. Whoever goes out injured, we know we have players who can come in seamlessly and help the team. We’ve showed that again today. I think we had five to six players out, and we showed we can bounce back, so happy days!"
Playing in front of over 60,000 fans at the Signal Iduna Park for the first time...
"Every time I put on the shirt, I feel like it’s a privilege to play for such a big club. But with the fans, you see that times 100 and you just want to give everything to make sure you’re on the winning team. Never any goosebumps, I never feel nervous. I feel I'm an alright footballer, so I trust myself to get the job done, and I did that again today, and we did that as a team. So I’m really happy."
Facing Dutch champions Ajax away in the Champions League...
"I love playing in the Champions League, the standard’s brilliant. Ajax are a great team. It’s gonna be a tough one, but we’ve got to be ready for it, we’ve got to give it all our best. Bring it on! I played against Besiktas last month, it was quite similar. The fans there are so intense, they love their team, so it’s a privilege to play in those games. I’m from the Championship where I was going to places like Barnsley every week, so it’s privilege to go to these beautiful stadiums in Europe, I’m privileged. I’ve just got to train, perform well and help the team win. Now’s it’s straight back home and on the Capri Sun, and then ready for the next game."
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