Haaland bags on Dortmund debut

Berlin, January 19

Norwegian rising star Erling Braut Haaland came off the bench to claim a hat-trick inside 20 minutes on his Borussia Dortmund debut and inspire a 5-3 comeback win at Augsburg in the Bundesliga on Saturday — despite not being fully fit.

The 19-year-old showed why Dortmund paid Salzburg 20 million euros for him last month when he came on in the 56th minute with his new team 3-1 down.

Dortmund’s victory left them fourth in the table, level on points with defending champions Bayern Munich and Schalke, but seven points behind leaders RB Leipzig, who opened a five-point gap at the top with a 3-1 win over Union Berlin.

Haaland needed just 183 seconds to open his Dortmund account and added two more in quick succession for his sixth hat-trick this season having already scored 28 goals in 22 games for Salzburg.

“He is still young and we would advise against expecting too much, but he brings us a lot of strength and has an incredible mentality,” said Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc. — AFP