bundesliga

Erling Haaland and Jadon Sancho make history as Borussia Dortmund overpower Union Berlin

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Erling Haaland scored for the seventh time in three games for Borussia Dortmund while Jadon Sancho became the youngest player in Bundesliga history to net 25 goals as BVB overpowered Union Berlin 5-0 on Saturday.

Borussia Dortmund 5-0 Union Berlin
Goals: 1-0 Sancho (13'), 2-0 Haaland (18'), 3-0 Reus (pen. 68'), 4-0 Witsel (70'), 5-0 Haaland (76')

Dortmund began very much with the confidence of a team that had scored 10 goals in two games prior to kick-off, but it was Union who fired off the first warning shot when Christopher Trimmel's curling cross from the left evaded everyone in the box and only narrowly bounced wide of the post. Undeterred, the hosts continued to attack with purpose and were soon rewarded when Sancho cut in from the left and opened the scoring with a deflected shot. Buoyed by that goal and having breached Union's compact defence, BVB sought to press home their advantage and soon did so, with Haaland tapping in at the back post from Julian Brandt's cross. Dortmund remained in control for the rest of the half, although the guests could have pulled one back shortly before the interval when Kevin Schlotterbeck volleyed over from Trimmel's free-kick.

It proved to be a costly miss, as although Union were initially much improved after the break - Marius Bülter going very close to pulling a goal back - Dortmund's firepower in the final third was simply too strong. Marco Reus converted from the penalty spot after Rafal Gikiewicz brought down Haaland, before Axel Witsel put the outcome beyond all doubt with a close-range finish from Sancho's cut-back moments later. Haaland then wrote his name into the record books once again with a smart finish from Brandt's back-heel, becoming the first player in history to score seven times in his first three Bundesliga games as Dortmund sent out another high-scoring statement of their intent this season.

Watch: Jadon Sancho and Erling Haaland discuss their on-field connection

Match stats

  • Sancho became the youngest player in Bundesliga history to reach 25 goals. He doesn't turn 20 until March.
  • The England international has now scored 11 goals in his last 11 competitive games for BVB, and has 12 Bundesliga goals so far this term.
  • Haaland, starting his first Bundesliga game, netted his seventh league goal in just three games. Nobody has ever done that before in the league's history.
  • Zagadou made his 50th appearance for Dortmund.
  • Reus pulled level with Dieter Hoeneß in 25th place in the Bundesliga's all-time scoring charts with his 127th league goal.
  • Favre's men have now scored at least five goals in three successive Bundesliga games for the first time. Bayern (March 2019), Kaiserslautern (February / March 1984) and Hannover 96 (September / October 1965) are the only other clubs ever to do so.

Line-ups

Dortmund: Bürki – Piszczek, Hummels, Akanji – Hakimi (Zagadou 64'), Witsel, Brandt, Guerreiro – Sancho, Haaland (Reyna 77'), Reus (c) (Hazard 71')
Unused subs: Hitz, Dahoud, Götze, Schmelzer, Balerdi, Schulz,
Out: Delaney (knee)
Coach: Lucien Favre

Union: Gikiewicz – Friedrich, Schlotterbeck, Subotic – Trimmel (c) (Ryerson 74'), Gentner (Prömel 68'), Andrich, Lenz – Malli (Becker 59'), Bülter – Andersson
Unused subs: Nicolas,, Polter, Ingvartsen, Reichel, Parensen
Out: Gogia (torn ACL), Mees (thigh), Schmiedebach (abdominal strain)
Coach: Urs Fischer

Watch: Subotic's emotional welcome from Dortmund's Yellow Wall