Borussia Dortmund 5-1 FC Koln: Three takeaways from the game

Haaland shines yet again

Borussia Dortmund fans were anxious to see Haaland back in action after his first game hat trick against Augsburg but Favre made them wait, electing not to start the Norwegian. Somewhat surprising based off his previous performance but Favre clearly wants to integrate him into the team slowly. Haaland came on when Dortmund were already up 3-1 but he didn’t let that stop him from making his impact.

It only took 12 minutes before Haaland found the back of the net, and he actually had a partial breakaway he could have scored with his first shot of the game yet again. Haaland pounced on a rebound for his goal, sliding it past and outstretched Timo Horn.

The anticipation Haaland showed was very impressive, so many players wait to see where the ball goes and then react. Haaland reacted before the ball even got to Horn. Haaland was anticipating a rebound and because of that was first to it once Horn spilled Guerreiro’s shot. As simple as that goal was, its a great sign of the strikers instincts that Haaland possesses. He will go on to score so many right place, right time goals because of that instinct.

One wasn’t enough for Haaland though, adding his second goal in the 88th minute. His pure pace was on full display as Dahoud put the ball seemingly too far ahead of him when it should have been fairly straightforward. Instead Haaland took off and beat Timo Horn to the ball and curled it into the empty net from the goal line. Haaland likely can’t keep up this ridiculous of a scoring pace but with 5 goals in only 59 minutes of Bundesliga action, Dortmund have a star on their hands.