Nothing hurts a football fan more than watching his club's former player score against them. Just ask Borussia Dortmund.
The club has sold many of their top stars to big guns around Europe who later came up against the BVB in a match or two, bagged a few goals and even knocked them out of a tournament.
Here's a list of five such players:
Ivan Perisic
A member of the last Dortmund side to win the Bundesliga title in 2012, Perisic jumped ships to VfL Wolfsburg just a few months later and came back to haunt them soon after, netting twice in a pulsating 3-3 league draw. Interestingly, that would remain his only two Bundesliga goals that season. Years later in 2019, the Croatian ace returned to Germany with Bayern Munich, on loan from Inter Milan, but couldn't find the net in either of his top-flight appearance against Die Borussen although he bagged an assist in a 4-0 thumping in Munich.
Mario Gotze
Mario Gotze's transfer to Bayern Munich in 2013 was confirmed even before their Champions League final meeting with Borussia Dortmund, which seemed to anger the fans. And while he was sidelined from the clash with an injury, the camera kept panning on him in the stands as Gotze watched his future club beat his current one. Later in November that year, the forward came up against Dortmund for the first time since the switch and as destiny would have it, Gotze knocked in the first of Bayern's three goals on the night.
Ciro Immobile
Widely considered a transfer flop for scoring just thrice in the Bundesliga from 24 appearances, Ciro Immobile eventually found stability (and his shooting boots) at Lazio. During his time at the club, he also came up against the BVB in the Champions League as the sides were drawn in the same group and the ex-Italy international haunted his former side in both games, netting twice in Rome in a 3-1 win before a second-half equalizer in a 1-1 draw at the Westfalonstadion.
Erling Haaland
Another prolific striker of this generation to have graced the fabled colors of Borussia Dortmund, Erling Haaland moved to Manchester City for €60million in 2022. Just a few weeks later, he was on target for the Sky Blues against the BVB in the Champions League, scoring a fabulous acrobatic winner in the dying seconds. Although the Norwegian ace didn't enjoy a productive homecoming in the return, Haaland came back to haunt his former team once again in 2025 with a goal in City's 4-1 Champions League win.
Robert Lewandowski
Really, was there any doubt? No former BVB player has tormented them as much as Robert Lewandowski, who traded the black and yellow of Dortmund for the more glamorous red of Bayern in 2014. Over the next eight years, the Polish sharpshooter ruthlessly plundered goals left, right and centre in the Der Klassiker to the point that Die Schwarzgelben went from having an affection for him to growing sick at the sight of him. Get this: in 29 games against them, he's struck 29 goals - the most Lewandowski has bagged against any other team.
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