Erling Haaland thanks Kylian Mbappe for ‘free motivation’ after scoring brace for Borussia Dortmund

Erling Haaland was the star of the show for Borussia Dortmund once again on Wednesday, as his two goals helped his side earn a 3-2 win over Sevilla in the first leg of their round of 16 clash. And the Norwegian striker believes that the Black and Yellows were a lot more ‘online’ in the win.

"“I felt like, I don’t know if you can say it’s down to motivation or passion or whatever, but we were more online today. It was good,” Haaland said after the game.“It was not good to let in two goals, but it is good to score three away goals and take them with us. We had a good plan. Edin [Terzic] has been good and I’ve been talking a lot with him. He said today would be my game and that I would get my chances and I did, so it was an important win.”"

Haaland also thanked Kylian Mbappe for giving him ‘free motivation’ by scoring a hat-trick against FC Barcelona on Tuesday. The PSG forward’s world-class performance fuelled the striker to show his quality on the UEFA Champions League stage for Borussia Dortmund.

"“When I saw Mbappe score the hat trick, I got free motivation, so thanks to him. He scored some nice goals and I got a free boost from him. So yeah, it was nice.”"

Haaland has now scored 18 goals in just 13 Champions League appearances for Borussia Dortmund. The 20 year old is already looking ahead to this weekend’s crunch Revierderby clash against Schalke. With both sides desperately in need for a win, a lot will be at stake in Saturday’s game. And Haaland believes that Dortmund must now take this positive mindset into the derby.

"“We have to recover quickly now. We’ve got a big game ahead this weekend. We have to take this positive mindset into that game because we have to win that one as well.”"

Mahmoud Dahoud: “The equaliser gave us more energy”

Mahmoud Dahoud, who scored the equaliser for Borussia Dortmund with an impressive long-range effort, believes that his goal spurred the team on to complete their comeback in the first-half. Dortmund started poorly, allowing Sevilla to take the lead. But Dahoud’s goal proved to be the catalyst for a fine comeback win in Spain.

"“It feels very good to have scored a goal for once,” Dahoud said. “The equaliser also gave us a boost. It gave us more energy, that was the key to the victory. Our energy levels dropped slightly in the second half. But then you have so much adrenaline: you switch your head off and want to defend everything. The coach told us not to let our heads drop and to stay compact.”“Everyone played their part and that was the key to us winning here.”"

The goal was Dahoud’s first since the opening day of the 2018/19 season, and showed that the German international is more than capable of making the difference for this Borussia Dortmund side.

Up next for Edin Terzic’s side is a short trip to Gelsenkirchen to take on local rivals Schalke 04 in the Bundesliga on Saturday.