Borussia Dortmund's Thorgan Hazard: "Erling Haaland needs to assist more, he scores too many!"
Thorgan Hazard was the beneficiary of Erling Haaland's first-ever Bundesliga assist as Borussia Dortmund earned three vital points in the title race at Borussia Mönchengladbach, and the Belgian has joked his teenaged teammate should learn to give a little more.
It was Hazard's first outing at Borussia-Park since leaving the Foals to join BVB in the summer. Having already faced and beaten his former employers twice this season at the Signal Iduna Park – once in the Bundesliga and once in the DFB Cup – Hazard showed Gladbach what they were missing just eight minutes into the latest edition of the Battle of the Borussias.
Haaland's tidy pass was miscontrolled by Hazard at the first attempt, but his swift Cruyff-turn recovery – sending three defenders the wrong way in the process – allowed him time to curl a shot past Yann Sommer into the far bottom corner to give his side an early lead.
"My first touch was bad," Hazard told Sky after the game, before addressing Haaland's taker-maker ratio with bundesliga.com
"I think Haaland needs to give assists, he scores too much," Hazard said with a smile, Haaland having scored nine times in his previous seven Bundesliga outings. "Sometimes it's good also to give assists. Last time I gave him one, so now it's OK, it's 1-1. And next time I will give him one again."
It was the dream start for Dortmund as Hazard showed that he can deliver in the big games, with captain Marco Reus out injured and Jadon Sancho starting on the bench.
Watch: Hazard: "Haaland needs more assists, he scores too much!"
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As well as breaking the deadlock on his return to his former stomping ground, the 26-year-old clocked the second-most runs of any Dortmund player, the joint-most attempts on goal and, most impressively, won 29 duels in the game – 12 more than the next-best player from either side.
"It's always special. This is my first time coming back here, and I had a very good moment here. I love everybody, but I'm sorry, I play for Dortmund now and I have to defend my colours."
And defend his new colours he did, helping Dortmund climb to second place in the Bundesliga table behind Bayern Munich, ahead of Wednesday's UEFA Champions League last-16 second leg against Paris Saint-Germain, and next weekend's Revierderby with fierce local rivals Schalke.
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