Erling Haaland leads Borussia Dortmund to a 5-3 victory over Augsburg

Borussia Dortmund came back from a 3-1 deficit in the second half to win 5-3 against Augsburg on the back of an Erling Haaland hat-trick.

Borussia Dortmund had a very dominant first half, but failed to finish their excellent scoring chances. All of Marco Reus, Jadon Sancho and Thorgan Hazard had great chances to put the Black and Yellows up 1-0 at different points and failed to capitalise. After sustained pressure with no results the same old Dortmund returned and Augsburg capitalized.

Hazard had a tough turnover that sprung Ruben Vargas on the counter. Piszczek’s age showed in his footrace against Vargas as he was severely outpaced, before the winger was able to find Florian Niederlechner in between Akanji and Hummels. It was a goal that could have been avoided, especially with the sloppy marking by Hummels and Akanji.

The second half started out horribly for Dortmund, an Akanji clearing error led to an absolute wonderstrike by Marco Richter. It was so out of nowhere that it caught everyone off guard. It seems like Roman Bürki should have been able to stop it just because of the sheer distance but it was such a unique shot and position that on the replay he didn’t really look out of position. Fortunately, Dortmund followed up conceding the second time very quickly, with Julian Brandt finding the back of the net after an exceptional turn in the Augsburg 18 yard box.

Dortmund’s claw back was short lived when Florian Niederlechner found the back of the net a second time in the 55th minute to seemingly put the game out of reach. It was immediately after the goal that Favre brought on his new star signing Erling Haaland and that’s where the fun began.

It took exactly 3 minutes for Erling Haaland to put his stamp on this Dortmund side, getting in behind the Augsburg back line and blasting a post-in finish far side on Thomas Koubek. It was the start of a special evening for Haaland as he would go on to score a second half hat-trick and bring Dortmund back from what easily could have been more dropped points.

Haaland easily could have had a 4th as he drew a handball in the penalty box that surely would have been deemed a penalty if VAR had reviewed it. Instead Dortmund played out the game with possession and the ref ended the game.

Jadon Sancho also kept up his great form with a goal and assist in his return from the winter break. This was a game Dortmund typically would have thrown away. It was great to see the impact Haaland had on a game like this as well as his mentality and determination on the pitch.

Hopefully he can continue to establish himself in the Dortmund starting XI. It’s a tantalizing thought having Haaland in front of Sancho, Hazard, Reus and Brandt.