DORTMUND, Germany - Borussia Dortmund's Erling Haaland scored twice, including a spectacular lob, to guide his side to a 4-2 home win over Union Berlin on Sunday which lifted them to within a point of leaders Bayern Munich and Vfl Wolfsburg.
Norwegian Haaland has now scored seven times in the league this season while taking his total tally to an impressive 68 goals in 67 games in all competitions for Dortmund.
Erling. Braut. Haaland.
That is all.@Bundesliga_EN pic.twitter.com/LBmEYrgQ3y
— Footy Accumulators (@FootyAccums) September 19, 2021
But it was not all smiles for the hosts after they almost squandered a 3-0 lead, allowing Union to score twice before Haaland's second goal settled nerves in the 83rd minute.
"We made it today again unnecessarily difficult for us," said Dortmund captain Marco Reus. "We are 3-0 up, concede a silly goal then one from a set piece. You invest an enormous amount and we just can't gift away goals like that. We have to quickly start working on that. But we are happy to have won the game."
The visitors had the first good chance in the first minute but Dortmund quickly took control with Raphaël Guerreiro firing them in front after a lightning-quick passing move that left the Union defense frozen in the 10th minute. With Dortmund's Donyell Malen wreaking havoc with his speed down the wing, it was a matter of time until they scored again. But Union did it for them when defender Marvin Friedrich's clumsy attempt to clear a Reus cutback landed in his own net in the 52nd.
Max Kruse's penalty for the visitors five minutes later cut the deficit and, as Dortmund inexplicably eased off, Andreas Voglsammer found space to head in and make it 3-2 in the 81st. That gave Union hope before Haaland latched onto a deep Mats Hummels cross some 25 meters out, saw keeper Andreas Luthe off his line and lobbed the ball high over him to restore order with a remarkable finish.
Dortmund's third league win in a row lifted them to 12 points, one behind leaders Bayern Munich who thrashed VfL Bochum 7-0 on Saturday. VfL Wolfsburg slipped to second place, on goal difference, after drawing 1-1 against Eintracht Frankfurt, the first points the Wolves have dropped after four straight league wins this season.
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann, editing by Pritha Sarkar and Ken Ferris)
