In the Zone: Bellingham and Mudryk give glimpse into the future

The UEFA Champions League has been a breeding ground for some of the game's future stars and this season is no exception. Borussia Dortmund and Shakhtar Donetsk are two of the latest clubs to have outstanding prospects coming of age in the competition.

In our FedEx Performance Zone stats dive, we take a look at the Matchday 2 performances of the prodigious pair Jude Bellingham and Mykhailo Mudryk.

Manchester City and Celtic were given ample warning of the respective abilities of Bellingham and Mudryk – both were on target on Matchday 1 – but neither were able to stop them finding the net for the second Champions League game in succession.

Bellingham's return to England was much anticipated and the all-action midfielder did not disappoint, turning in Dortmund's opening goal in their 2-1 loss to City from Marco Reus' cross. Mudryk was equally clinical with his strike, latching onto Georgiy Sudakov's through ball before producing an unerring finish during their 1-1 draw with Celtic in Warsaw.

A single point separated the pair on Matchday 2 and in the overall rankings – where seventh-placed Bellingham has the slightest of edges over his eighth-placed rival – but the way they have accumulated points so far has been very different.

The similarities are obvious. Both players have played the full 90 minutes in both games (ten points each) and scored two goals (30 points) from two shots on target (four points).

However, Bellingham has recovered an astonishing 15 balls (15 points) across his two appearances – only Inter's Marcelo Brozović (17) has more among all the midfielders in action in the competition so far – and also scooped nine points on Matchday 1 and three on Matchday 2 for his passing accuracy (91% and 77% respectively).

With Mudryk, his tally is largely the result of his attacking output. While he also hauled in nine points for passing accuracy (93%) against Celtic, his two assists (18 points) in Shakhtar's stunning 4-1 win at Leipzig in their first match have helped bolster his overall FedEx Performance Zone total to 70 points. His four goal involvements in two games are more than any other player in this season's Champions League to date.

Given Mudryk is 21 and Bellingham just 19, it's hard not to be excited by the potential heights these two fledgling talents could reach.