The reason why Bellingham had a poor performance vs Bayern Munich | OneFootball

Real Madrid and Bayern Munich engaged in a thrilling 90-minute-long battle last night in Germany for the first leg of their UEFA Champions League semifinal.

The fixture saw some of Europe’s biggest names take to the field in a bid to hand their side the advantage heading into next week’s deciding leg.

One of the battles many looked forward to on the night was that between Jude Bellingham and Jamal Musiala.

While indeed both players did not go head-to-head position-wise, it was always interesting to see which young prospect had the better impact.

If the battle between Bellingham and Musiala was to be measured by any parameter, the 21-year-old German star kid was the one who shone brighter.

The reason for his slump

Jude Bellingham struggled to influence the game to his level last night, as he failed to make accurate runs into the box or generate any solid threat in the final third.

According to reports from The Athletic (h/t Madrid Xtra), the reason behind the youngster’s poor performance on the night was that he was unwell for most of last week.

Well below his best. (Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty Images)

The outlet reveal that Bellingham barely trained last week, and in fact did not even play the team’s last two games, owing to a viral infection.

The German star kid

While Bellingham had a day off, Bayern Munich’s young phenom stole the show on the wing. He was a constant nuisance down Real Madrid’s left flank, providing one key pass, completing five dribbles and even winning a penalty.

Bellingham, for comparative purposes, provided one key pass, completed two dribbles and did not create any threat in front of goal.

Heading into the second leg at the Bernabeu, the focus will thus be on ensuring that the English phenom recovers his best physical version and competes on equal terms with the rest of the field.