Erling Haaland Hits 23-Minute Debut Hat-Trick as Borussia Dortmund Beat Augsburg 5-3
Erling Haaland registered a 23 minute hat trick on his debut as Dortmund edged out Augsburg in a 5-3 thriller to keep pace with those at the top of the Bundesliga table.
BVB came back from being 3-1 down to secure the win, with the second half witnessing seven goals in one of the most exciting games of the season so far.
A swashbuckling counter attack from Lucien Favre's side led to the first good chance of the game, with Jadon Sancho's final pass not quite finding its way into the path on the onrushing Marco Reus, preventing the visiting captain from finishing off a fine move.
In the 21st minute Augsburg had the ball in the back of the net courtesy of Ruben Vargas - only for the goal to be ruled out for offside by the narrowest of margins. Five minutes after this decision, Sancho went close, latching onto Julien Brandt's pass and firing a fierce right-footed shot just over the bar, before Reus had an even better chance moments later.
Dortmund were made to rue these missed chances when Augsburg managed to open the scoring just after the half hour mark. The home side seized upon a misplaced pass from Thorgan Hazard and were devastating in transition with Florian Niederlechner providing the finishing touch to Vargas' excellent run and cross.
Just twenty seconds after half time, Augsburg doubled their lead in sensational fashion when Marco Richter fired in an unstoppable 30-yard drive past a hapless Roman Burki. The goal was soon cancelled out however, with Brandt manoeuvring his way into space into the box and unleashing an unstoppable shot to pull one back for the visitors.
To those #MUFC fans crowing about Erling Haaland scoring a hat-trick, look at the defence he's up against.
— Scott Saunders (@_scottsaunders) January 18, 2020
This is his second goal. It's just as bad for the third.
Juan Mata would've had a hat-trick against this lot. pic.twitter.com/5Lw3gSYS4a
A ridiculous six minute spell that witnessed three goals was kicked off by Niederlechner grabbing his second of the goal to put the home side two goals up. Dortmund levelled up the game soon after though, with Haaland opening his scoring account for the club just three minutes after coming on as a substitute, before Sancho completed the quickfire turnaround.
The visitors then edge in front in the 70th minute with Haaland registering his second goal of his BVB career, tapping in after fine work from Hazard. The Norwegian then completed a debut hat trick nine minutes when he raced onto Reus pass and slotted in the seventh goal of an incredible match.
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