Bundesliga
Erling Haaland in Dortmund squad to face Wolfsburg
Erling Haaland has been named in the Borussia Dortmund squad to face Wolfsburg on Saturday, following seven matches on the sidelines with a hip flexor injury.
Haaland wasn't expected back until mid-December at a push, but could feature in some capacity at the Volkswagen-Arena.
"Erling's on board, and will travel," confirmed Dortmund head coach Marco Rose at his customary pre-match press conference. "He's in contention for a short run-out."
News of Haaland's accelarated recovery comes as a timely boost for Dortmund. Jude Bellingham, Thorgan Hazard and Gio Reyna won't be involved against Wolfsburg, while Raphael Guerreiro is a doubt. There's also the small matter of Der Klassiker against record champions Bayern Munich on 4 December.
Die Schwarzgelben - a point behind Bundesliga leaders Bayern after 12 rounds of fixtures - conclude the calendar year with three league matches in the space of seven days against Bochum (11 Dec), Greuther Fürth (15 Dec) and Hertha Berlin (18 Dec), before the Bundesliga's customary winter break. Their season resumes away to Eintracht Frankfurt on 8 January 2022.
Watch: Erling Haaland - a goalscoring machine
Haaland led the Bundesliga scoring charts with nine goals in six appearances, prior to his injury, but has since been overtaken by Bayern counterpart Robert Lewandowski (14). With 49 goals in as many Bundesliga games, the 21-year-old is poised to become the youngest and quickest player to post a half century of top-flight strikes.
Haaland has also scored four times across two DFB Cup and UEFA Champions League games so far this season to take his overall Dortmund tally to 70 goals in 69 matches. The 2021 Ballon d'Or candidate and reigning Golden Boy joined the club from Red Bull Salzburg in January 2020, and is contracted through to summer 2024.