The highly anticipated Bellingham brothers’ sibling rivalry within the FIFA Club World Cup will have to wait as Borussia Dortmund’s Jobe Bellingham will not be playing in the quarter-final game against Real Madrid due to suspension.
Football enthusiasts, who were so looking forward to seeing the thrilling sibling rivalry on the international platform were left disappointed when Jobe was issued his second yellow card during the tournament.
Dortmund eliminated Mexico’s Monterrey 2-1 in the Round of 16 in a closely contested match, but at the expense of something. Sunderland’s recent signing, 19-year-old midfielder Jobe, was carded in the first half for tripping Nelson Deossa. Having already saved a spot in a group-stage match against Ulsan HD, the cumulative number of cautions imposed a one-match ban under the FIFA competition rule governing yellow cards to be suspended only until the quarter-final stage.
After the game, Dortmund manager Niko Kovac empathized with the teenage midfielder, continuing on to state Jobe was clearly devastated. Going on to describe further, the teen midfielder did not know that receiving a second yellow card would keep him out of the following game. But already in high spirits for a rematch between the two brothers in the Champions League next season, the manager cannot wait for their next encounter.
In spite of the sibling rivalry fiasco, Dortmund’s Club World Cup run goes on. The German side now has to play against Spanish giants Real Madrid in the quarterfinals—a match that would have been sibling against sibling if it were not for the axe of discipline.
Two first-half goals in the first half of the match by Serhou Guirassy, with a pass from Karim Adeyemi, gave Dortmund a win against Monterrey. Monterrey tried their comeback after halftime when Jobe had scored, but the German Bundesliga side stood firm. Jobe was subsequently substituted for Marcel Sabitzer as Dortmund sought to hold on to their lead and qualify.
Off the pitch, there was appalling fan behaviour to sully the match, with Monterrey fans warned for racist chanting towards Dortmund goalkeeper Gregor Kobel on goal-kicks. And to add insult to injury, Monterrey’s Sergio Ramos vowed to defeat his former team Real Madrid better when he headed catastrophically out of bounds at the end.
And so the Bellingham brothers will just have to wait for just their turn before they get their turn on the pitch. Football is an odd sport to have to go full circle, though, so it isn’t the last one has heard of this interesting family drama.
