Haaland with a brace to lead Dortmund 3-1 over Mainz
Sports Desk, Oct 16 (EFE).- Erling Haaland celebrated his return from injury by scoring two goals Saturday as Borussia Dortmund beat Mainz 3-1 to take provisional possession of first place in the Bundesliga.
The Norway international had been out of action since late September, forcing him to miss three matches with Dortmund and two World Cup qualifiers with his national side.
Dortmund took the lead in the 3rd minute with a goal from captain Marco Reus.
But while they dominated possession, the hosts created just one other scoring chance before the break, a shot by Jude Bellingham that was blocked on the line in the dying second of first-half stoppage time.
Haaland extended the lead in the 54th minute, converting from the spot after a protracted VAR review detected a hand ball in the box by one of the Mainz players.
The second goal came just as Mainz was starting to look better and going behind 2-0 did nothing to dampen their drive.
Karim Onisiwo chipped the ball just over the Dortmund goal in the 62nd minute and Jean-Paul Boëtius forced a stop from goalkeeper Gregor Kobel in the 76th.
The visitors’ determined bore fruit with three minutes left in regulation, when a mistake by Kobel led to a goal for Jonathan Burkardt.
With the score 2-1 in the 94th minute, Bellingham snatched the ball in midfield and relayed it to Haaland, who scored his 13th goal in nine appearances for Dortmund across all competitions this season.
Dortmund climbed to 18 points, 2 ahead of defending champions Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen, who will face each other Sunday.
rz/dr
