Jude Bellingham enjoyed the ovation of the fans in a triumphant pose.

With arms outstretched, the young Dortmund star stood in front of the roaring south stand and was celebrated for his first Bundesliga appearance with two goals (2nd/53rd minute).

At the 5-0 (3-0) goal gala of Borussia, who played like a different player in comparison to the dreary previous weeks, over VfB Stuttgart, the English national player stole the show from all his fellow campaigners and became the face of the trend reversal long awaited in Dortmund - just in time for the top class hit against Manchester City.

Sports director Sebastian Kehl went into raptures: "For us, he was again the one who steered the game in the right direction.

So he is incredibly valuable for the team.”

Led by Bellingham, the fun of football returned to BVB.

After dubious performances without passion and falling to eighth place, the supposed title contender this time appeased the recently growing crowd of critics.

Similar to Kehl, Edin Terzic also emphasized the performance of the midfielder, who has already scored eight competitive goals this season and has long been one of the leading players: "Jude did really well today.

It's extraordinary to be able to play football so consistently at that age, at 19."

It seems as if the football teacher's speeches and the pronunciations of the pros have had an effect over the past few days.

Unlike last time, the team convinced with the highest win of the season with great willingness to fight, a lot of humor and high effectiveness.

Further goals from Niklas Süle (13th), Giovanni Reyna (44th) and Youssoufa Moukoko (72nd) rounded off the strong performance.

BVB hopes for a turnaround

"The best response to criticism is to win games - in that way of course.

The joy of playing is still dormant in us,” said Julian Brandt.

The midfielder is hoping for a sustainable turnaround: "We talked about everything that needed to be talked about and hopefully learned our lessons from it once and for all.

That was a good first step and we have to keep at it.”

Despite all the joy about the positive reaction of his pros, Terzic didn't quite believe in the sense of achievement.

After all, his team is known as a moody diva.

With a serious expression, the 39-year-old coach called for more consistency: "We know what has happened in the last few weeks.

We have to continue right now – and not praise too much.

We don't want to be satisfied with a win, we want to start a series now."

Already on Tuesday (9 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Champions League and on Prime Video) his team is challenged again – at a much higher level.

In the fifth group game of the Champions League against the star ensemble from Man City around former Dortmund player Erling Haaland, scoring goals will not be as easy as it was against Stuttgart.

However, Terzic is in good spirits that the thrashing of Stuttgart will provide tailwind in the fight for the round of 16 of the European premier class: "We hope that we can draw a lot of positive energy and self-confidence from it."

In the games against the English champions from Manchester and next Saturday against the last strong fourth-placed team from Frankfurt, it will be shown how stable the supposed upswing is.

At least for a short time, everyone involved took a deep breath.

“I think all people can go home with a smile.

That was really good for us in the current phase,” commented sporting director Kehl.

Terzic saw it similarly: "It's good not to have to scold so much."