Bellingham the key for Dortmund at Chelsea

If Borussia Dortmund's remarkable 2023 run is to continue at Chelsea on Tuesday, midfield master Jude Bellingham, 19, will need to be front and centre.

Dortmund travel to London as European football's most in-form team, having chalked up ten wins from ten games to start 2023.

Nine points behind leaders Bayern Munich at Christmas, Dortmund have closed the gap and now sit second on goal difference.

A hard-fought 1-0 win in the opening tie means Dortmund will make it through to the Champions League quarter finals if they avoid defeat on Tuesday evening.

While Marco Reus' likely inclusion means Bellingham, captain in Dortmund's first leg victory, may not wear the armband at Stamford Bridge, the English teenager will unquestionably be one of the side's on-field leaders.

In what has been a breakout season for the English teenager bookending an impressive Qatar World Cup showing, Bellingham has saved his best performances for the biggest stage.

In six Champions League games this season -- two of which as captain -- Bellingham, has scored four goals and laid on an assist.

A starring performance in his Champions League debut in London, and just his third club match on English soil since arriving in Dortmund, will be the next milestone in an astonishing run for the policeman's son from Stourbridge.

Dortmund manager Edin Terzic, who brought Bellingham into a three-man leadership group alongside Reus and World Cup-winning defender Mats Hummels, has frequently described the Birmingham City junior as "the oldest 19-year-old player in the world."