Jude Bellingham sends message to Erling Haaland after Man City’s 3-1 Champions League defeat vs Real Madrid

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Erling Haaland and Jude Bellingham were not reunited in Manchester United’s 3-1 loss against Real Madrid as the star striker suffered a knee injury against Newcastle United.

Haaland was on the bench, however but Pep Guardiola decided not to take any needless risks with the Norwegian’s fitness and decided not to bring him on as an impact substitute.

It looked like the tie was over and done with once Erling Haaland had to be rested as Manchester City lacked their biggest goalscoring threat on the night.

Real Madrid, on the other hand could field their very own goal-machine in Kylian Mbappe, who scored a stunning hat-trick.

Jamie Carragher criticised Haaland as he felt a player of his stature should have played through the pain barrier in a do-or-die clash against Manchester City.

But Pep Guardiola would likely disagree with the Liverpool legend as he needs the 24-year-old to be fit and firing for Manchester City until the end of the season.

Jude Bellingham hopes Erling Haaland’s injury is “not too bad” after Real Madrid vs Manchester City

Thibaut Courtois lauded Haaland before the game, who would have been frustrated witnessing proceedings from the sidelines as Mbappe, Bellingham and the rest of the Real Madrid cohort outclassed the Sky Blues.

Nico Gonzalez’s consolation goal does not do justice to the gulf in class between both sides on Wednesday as Carlo Ancelotti and Co are now in a completely different league to City.

While Bellingham would have been over the moon about Real Madrid beating Manchester City 6-3 across both legs and qualifying for the Round of 16, he sent a classy message to Haaland nonetheless.

Bellingham told TNT Sports after the contest: “You always want to play teams at their best and obviously, I hope he’s not too bad.”

“I saw the video and I hope it’s not too bad, he’s a good mate of mine. You play what you’re up against and I think we managed it well today. If their key players don’t play, they still have other players who can step in and cause damage so I think we nullified that well.”

Haaland and Bellingham are close friends and it shows as the Englishman decided to look out for his former Borussia Dortmund teammate despite Real Madrid’s emphatic victory.

Haaland and Bellingham record proves they were a dynamic duo

During their time at Dortmund, the pair wreaked havoc in the Bundesliga.

While Haaland and Bellingham did not win the league or the Champions League during their time at Borussia Dortmund, they did lift the DFB-Pokal trophy in 2021.

In the 63 games they played in tandem, they won 41, drew six and lost 16.

Furthermore, Haaland and Bellingham scored and assisted each other a combined seven times as well.

Averaging two points per game, Dortmund’s dynamic duo put their former club on their backs during their time in Germany.

As a result, Haaland and Bellingham shared a strong bond both on the pitch and their off-pitch relationship remains tight-knit to this day.