Dortmund ride on Braut brace

Berlin, Aug. 15: Erling Braut Haaland weighed in with two goals and three assists as Borussia Dortmund threw down a marker on the first weekend of the Bundesliga season with a 5-2 thrashing of Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday.

Defending champions Bayern Munich kicked off the new season with a 1-1 draw at Moenchengladbach on Friday.

Dortmund host Bayern in the German Super Cup in three days’ time.

The 21-year-old proved he can create chances just as well as finish them.

Haaland also claimed a hat-trick in the German Cup last week, giving him a tally of five goals and three assists after just two games this season.

When Dortmund attacked early on, Haaland drew three defenders and squared to Marco Reus, who scored his 100th Bundesliga goal on 23 minutes.

However, pressure by new Frankfurt signing Rafael Santos Borre saw Dortmund defender Felix Passlack put the ball into his own net four minutes later.

Haaland helped restore the lead on 32 minutes.

He spotted Thorgan Hazard free and his shot clipped the boot of Frankfurt’s goalkeeper Kevin Trapp on its way into the net.

Just over two minutes later, Haaland broke free of the defence and drilled his shot past Trapp to make it 3-1.

It could have been 4-1 at half-time, but Reus had a second goal ruled out as replays showed the ball went dead in the build-up.

Frankfurt’s new coach Oliver Glasner responded by making three changes, including giving a Bundesliga debut for new Norway signing Jens Petter Hauge, who scored Frankfurt’s late second goal.

However, there was only one Norwegian star in Dortmund as Haaland released Giovanni Reyna to score the hosts’ fourth goal on 58 minutes.

Haaland showed his speed and strength by finishing off with his second goal with 20 minutes left.

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