Sancho Dortmund’s hat-trick hero
BORUSSIA Dortmund kept alive their slim title hopes in the Bundesliga after a hat-trick by England forward Jadon Sancho helped them to a
6-1 win at bottom team Paderborn yesterday.
The result left Dortmund second on 60 points from 29 games with five rounds of matches remaining, seven behind champions and league leaders Bayern Munich.
Paderborn remained rooted to the foot of the standings on 19 points.
The visitors missed a string of chances before Thorgan Hazard gave them a 54th-minute lead from close range and Sancho made it 2-0 three minutes later with a simple tap-in.
Uwe Huenemeier pulled one back for Paderborn with a 72nd-minute penalty before Sancho scored Dortmund’s third two minutes later with a fine left-footed shot and Achraf Hakimi drilled in the fourth in the 85th minute.
Marcel Schmelzer made it 5-1 with a close-range goal in the 89th minute and Sancho completed his hat-trick barely 60 seconds later as Paderborn fell apart.
Earlier, Marcus Thuram and Alassane Plea combined to score three goals as Borussia Moenchengladbach crushed Union Berlin 4-1 to reclaim third place with five matches left.
The 22-year-old Thuram headed in at the far post from fellow Frenchman Plea’s cross in the 41st minute after Florian Neuhaus had put the hosts ahead in the 17th with a solo run.
Sebastian Andersson briefly cut the deficit for the visitors five minutes after the restart.
But the hosts, playing fluid football in front of empty stands filled with cardboard cut-outs of fans, were far superior, constantly finding space to attack.
Thuram, the son of 1998 World Cup winner Lilian Thuram, grabbed his second goal on the hour, tapping in at the far post after Plea threaded another pass through the Union defence.
Plea turned scorer himself with a well-timed left-footed shot to join Thuram on 10 goals this season and put Gladbach back in the mix for a Champions League spot with their first win in three games.
“We did what we set out to do,” Gladbach coach Marco Rose said.
“When we had possession we were dominant even though we made one or two mistakes more than we should. But we scored four good goals and I am obviously very satisfied with the performance and the result.”
The Foals, who next travel to Freiburg, are third in the standings on 56 points, ahead of Bayer Leverkusen on goal difference. RB Leipzig, fifth on 55, take on Cologne today.