Haaland scores twice on comeback as Dortmund go on top, Leipzig held
BERLIN: Erling Haaland marked his return from injury with two goals on Saturday as Borussia Dortmund beat Mainz 3-1 to go top of the Bundesliga overnight.
Norwegian striker Haaland missed Dortmund’s last four games in all competitions with a thigh complaint, but returned against Mainz to score his third brace in as many appearances and take his season tally to nine league goals.
“Erling really wanted to play and he gave everything to be on the pitch today,” Dortmund coach Marco Rose told Sky.
“We really missed him, and it’s great that he scored two goals. That’s what he signed him for,” added captain Marco Reus with a grin. Victory sent Dortmund top of the table, leapfrogging Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen, who meet on Sunday.
Reus smashed a brilliant half-volley into the top corner to give Dortmund the lead on three minutes, before Haaland coolly converted a penalty to double the lead ater the break.
Jonathan Burkardt struck late on to give Mainz hope, but Haaland swept in a second in injury time to seal the win and continue Dortmund’s perfect home record this season.
Fellow top-four hopefuls RB Leipzig lost further ground on the leaders as they were held to a 1-1 draw away to unbeaten Freiburg.
Emil Forsberg converted a penalty just ater the half-hour mark to give Leipzig the lead and become the first Bundesliga goalscorer in Freiburg’s new stadium.
Korean forward Jeong Woo-yeong levelled the scores with a header in the second half, however, as Leipzig dropped points for the fith time this season to slip seven points behind Dortmund.
AWONIYI IN FORM: Leipzig also remain behind Freiburg and Union Berlin, who moved up to fith with a 2-0 win over Wolfsburg.
Nigerian striker Taiwo Awoniyi was the matchwinner in a hard-fought game for Union, firing them into the lead on 49 minutes before helping set up Sheraldo Becker’s 83rd-minute header to seal the win.