Haaland extends Dortmund tally to 9 in 6 games
>> BERLIN: Norwegian teen striker Erling Braut Haaland took his tally to nine goals in six games for Borussia Dortmund after netting again in Friday’s 4-0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt.
Dortmund were impressive ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League last 16, first-leg clash at home to Paris Saint-Germain, coached by ex-Borussia boss Thomas Tuchel, and this convincing win lifted them to second in the Bundesliga.
They sit a point behind leaders Bayern Munich, who play strugglers Cologne away today.
Dortmund dominated a limited Frankfurt team, who looked a shadow of the side which hammered Bayern 5-1 last November and beat Leipzig 2-0 last month.
Frankfurt could only come up with one shot on goal, compared to Dortmund’s 17 at Signal Iduna Park.
After goals by Lukasz Piszczek and Jadon Sancho, Haaland again showed some clinical finishing to smash home a second-half pass and continue his phenomenal tally before Raphael Guerreiro added a late fourth.
The 19-year-old Haaland, who scored 28 goals in 22 games this season for Salzburg before Dortmund paid €20 million for him, now has eight goals in five league games, plus one in the 3-2 German Cup defeat to Werder Bremen.
The teen was replaced 12 minutes from time and came off to a standing ovation from the 81,000 crowd.
This was Dortmund’s first win in three games after the cup defeat to Bremen and last Saturday’s 4-3 defeat at Leverkusen when they leaked two goals in the dying stages.
“Keeping them to nil was very important,” admitted Dortmund defender Mats Hummels. “We didn’t allow them many chances, but that wasn’t just down to the defence, it was the whole team.”
After Guerreiro hit the post with a free-kick for Dortmund early on, the hosts took the lead through right-back Piszczek.
The Poland international, stand-in captain with Marco Reus sidelined by a leg injury, cracked a long-range goal off his left foot on 33 minutes.
Sancho and Haaland, both 19, then put the result beyond doubt with two goals inside four minutes after the break.