Dortmund Manager Issues Jobe Bellingham Statement After Major Bayern Error
Niko Kovac has given his verdict on Jobe Bellingham's error which ultimately led to Bayern Munich's winner over Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga.
Bellingham - the younger brother of Real Madrid and England star Jude - followed in his sibling's footsteps by making the move to Dortmund over the summer.
The German side paid a reported £27.8m to Sunderland for Bellingham's services, in what is the highest transfer fee a newly promoted Premier League club has received.
Since moving to Germany, the 20-year-old has made 14 appearances in all competitions for his new club.
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His latest showing for Dortmund came yesterday evening at the Allianz Arena against Bayern in the Bundesliga.
The hosts took the lead through England captain Harry Kane netting the 400th club goal of his career.
Bayern's second after the break was what ultimately proved to be the decisive goal and involved Bellingham.
The England under-21 international attempted to clear a cross from Luis Diaz.
However, Bellingham ultimately took too long to do so and his delay allowed former Crystal Palace attacker Michael Olise the opportunity to nip in front of the Dortmund man and the ball bounced in off the sliding Bayern player.
The visitors halved the deficit through Julian Brandt as full-time approached, but it proved to be nothing more than consolation as Bayern maintained their perfect start to the Bundesliga campaign with a 2-1 victory as Dortmund tasted defeat.
Dortmund boss Kovac spoke about the moment that led to Bayern's winner, which ultimately came from Bellingham's error, in his post-match press conference.
But Kovac did not apportion any blame to the youngster and believed it was a difficult situation in which he found no fault with the midfielder.
Kovac said: "I can’t find any fault with Jobe.
"He was standing where he needed to be. The ball was played in so sharply. It was an artistic feat in its own right that he didn’t score an own-goal.
"When a ball is played in so sharply, his first task is to hold his centre of gravity.
"He had his head down and Olise took advantage of this split second and slid in.
"That’s not a simple [situation]. There’s no fault. I think that everything is fine with that situation."
The result leaves Bayern five points clear of RB Leipzig at the top of the Bundesliga table, while Dortmund sit fourth and trail the leaders by seven points after the defeat.
Topics: Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Bundesliga
John McDougall