Star Metro - Bellingham brace helps Dortmund keep pace with Bayern

Bellingham struck twice in the second half as Dortmund ran Wolfsburg ragged in a statement victory to keep alive their hopes of a first title in 11 years.

The win keeps Edin Terzic's within a point of league leaders Bayern Munich, who battled to a narrow win over Werder Bremen on Saturday.

England international Bellingham, who has been linked with a move to Real Madrid in recent days, now has 13 goals in all competitions this season.

Dortmund took the lead after just 14 minutes as both sides went for the throat in the opening exchanges.

Karim Adeyemi was quicker than his marker to pick up Julian Ryerson's deflected cross and headed the ball expertly under the bar for the opener.

Wolfsburg should have equalised when Patrick Wimmer found himself through on goal, but the German striker fired the ball straight at Dortmund keeper Gregor Kobel.

At the other end, Donyell Malen wasted a brilliant opportunity on the counter-attack when he decided to square the ball instead of shoot in a one-on-one with Wolfsburg keeper Koen Casteels.

Unfazed, Dortmund doubled the lead through a Sebastien Haller tap-in just before the half-hour mark.

After Mats Hummels won the ball back brilliantly in midfield, Adeyemi found space to charge on the left wing and picked out Haller in front of goal with a fizzing low cross.

With Dortmund's attacks now flooding through the leaky Wolfsburg defence, Malen quickly added a third.

The home side continued to tear through their guests after the break, with Bellingham scoring his goal after a rampaging run from inside his own half.

Adeyemi made it 5-0 a few minutes later, tapping the ball into the empty net after he and Haller had teamed up to win back possession in the Wolfsburg box.

The Germany striker could have had a hat-trick when Bellingham was brought down in the box, but blasted his penalty high over the bar.

Bellingham completed the rout a few minutes from time, slotting the ball in from close range after a flick on from Julian Brandt.

The England midfielder's future remains uncertain, but Dortmund sporting director Sebastian Kehl insisted before the game that he was yet to receive any official offer for a transfer.

"It's not surprising that the rumours are swirling, we've been in this situation before. But there's nothing new to announce and there has been no offer," he told DAZN.

W.Richard--SMC