Champions League spotlight shows England’s future is in fine hands

“Maybe he’s a liar,” Pep Guardiola joked after the game. And to be fair to Manchester City's manager, it really is quite unbelievable that Jude Bellingham is still only 17.

Guardiola was speaking after watching his Manchester City side defeat Borussia Dortmund and secure a spot in the last four of this year's Champions League, where they will now play Paris Saint-Germain for a place in the final.

It was a first for the Spaniard in City colours having fallen at the quarter-final stage in the last four seasons with his emotion at what proved to be the tie-sealing goal, scored by Phil Foden in the second-half, clear for all to see.

But while the momentousness of City's exorcising of their European demons wasn't lost on anyone, much of the talk after the game was about two Englishmen who had both put on a show to light up the brightest of stages.

Bellingham had earlier scored the opener, curling a fine finish past Ederson early on, to give Dortmund the lead on the night and the edge in the tie.

It was an exceptional goal and a record-breaking one too - he is now the youngest English player to score in the Champions League - but it was the maturity of his overall performance that so impressed.

He is a throwback of a midfield player, covering every blade of grass in and out of possession and both dominant on the ball and demanding of his teammates off it.

His 22 shirt number, so famously retired by boyhood club Birmingham City after his move to Germany last summer, comes from his desire to not only be a '4' but also an '8' and a '10' and he plays like it.

“He’s so good for 17 years old, I cannot believe it. He’s a fantastic player,” Guardiola said afterwards.

“There was one moment when he didn’t get the ball from central defenders, how he shouts and demands that ball to him at 17 means a lot.

“I spoke with his manager, Edin [Terzic], and he told me what you see in these two games is like every training session. They have a huge talent.”

Dortmund's interim coach is well aware of just what the German side have on their hands.

“The only thing that we don’t know about Jude is his limit,” he added. “He has so much potential, so much talent, and he’s a great, great boy who wants to improve.

“This is the thing we have to find out, where is the limit, and we are going to try and push him to the limit. Tonight the whole world saw what he can do.”

He wasn't the only one either.

Foden's display, capped by a superb, arrowed shot into the goal from 18 yards with 15 minutes to play, was equally impressive.

Still only 20, he ran the game from the left side of City's attack, challenging and pressing and probing throughout.

He was excellent last week too, when his last-minute winner gave City an advantage that eventually proved too much for Dortmund to overcome.

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"You have the feeling that he is a guy who never hides," Guardiola said. "He always creates something. He is dynamic offensively, defensively with quality in the smaller spaces.

"He is learning right now not to take just one touch. He is able to make more touches when making decisions.

"He scored two important goals. The second goal in the Etihad and now helped us to be in the semi-final. We knew it from the beginning and how he grew up.

"In the quarter-final of the Champions League, he was the important player to go through to play against PSG."

This is the standard that both Foden and Bellingham have now set, starring in the most important games on the biggest stage.

It's certainly what their teams want to see and with a European Championships just over the horizon, no doubt Gareth Southgate will too.