Haaland, Meunier bag braces to help Dortmund hammer Freiburg
>>DORTMUND: Borussia Dortmund’s Erling Haaland snapped a two-game goal drought to score twice while fullback Thomas Meunier added two more as their side hammered visiting Freiburg 5-1 on Friday to move within striking distance of leaders Bayern Munich.
Meunier powered home a header at the near post from a Julian Brandt corner after 14 minutes and doubled the lead in the 29th, nodding in another Brandt corner.
Haaland then got in on the action, quickly peeling away from team mate Jude Bellingham to race into the box, latch onto a perfectly timed through ball from the England international and tap in Dortmund’s third goal on the stroke of halftime.
The Norwegian bagged his second in the 75th — his 55th goal in 56 Bundesliga matches — after Ermedin Demirovic had pulled a goal back for the visitors just past the hour.
Haaland has now scored 78 goals in 77 matches in all competitions for the Ruhr valley club.
Mahmoud Dahoud capped a dominant Dortmund display with a powerful shot in the 86th.
Dortmund have 40 points in second place, three behind Bayern who were to visit Cologne last night, Thai time. Freiburg stay fourth on 30.
“Five goals sounds good. The first half was a top performance,” said Dortmund coach Marco Rose. “In the second half we eased a bit off and allowed them to pull a goal back. But it was a deserved win.”
RESULT
Borussia Dortmund 5 (Meunier 14, 29, Haaland 45+1, 75, Dahoud 86) Freiburg 1 (Demirovic 61)