Bundesliga

2020-01-21T06:35:00Z

Erling Haaland: MD18's Man of the Matchday

As far as debuts go, few compare to Erling Haaland’s 20-minute hat-trick in the 5-3 win at Augsburg, and Borussia Dortmund’s new match-winner has a warning for the rest of the Bundesliga: there is more of the same to come.

With Dortmund trailing 3-1, Haaland was thrown into action by Lucien Favre, tasked with trying to find a way back into the game for his new employers, and with just 34 minutes left to do so.

Within three minutes of coming on as a 56th-minute substitute for Lukas Piszczek, the 19-year-old had his first Dortmund goal as he fired home Jadon Sancho’s fine through ball with just his third touch and first shot in the German top-flight.

Two touches later and, with his second effort on goal, Haaland tapped home Thorgan Hazard’s pass to make it 4-3, before he rounded off the victory with a clinical finish to make it three goals from his first three shots and just 10 touches of a Bundesliga ball that he would be taking home, his name in the history books set in stone.

Haaland is the Bundesliga's second-youngest hat-trick scorer, and the division's first substitute debutant to strike three times in one game.

It was a stunning performance from the Norway international, who modestly described his debut only as "good" before stating this kind of ruthless goalscoring is all in a day's work.

"I came here to score goals," Haaland told bundesliga.com afterwards. "It's a good debut for me. We just have to take it game by game, then we’ll see what happens.

"If you look at this support, then you can see why. It’s amazing to play in front of these and it just gives you more joy to play football in front of such passionate fans."

Watch: Erling Haaland: "I came here to score goals"

As far as debuts go, they don't come much better, but then we probably should have seen it coming as Haaland has previous when it comes to debut hat-tricks.

He scored four times on his UEFA Champions League bow, again completing his hat-trick with his first three shots as RB Salzburg romped to a 6-2 win over Genk in September last year.

Given the service Haaland will enjoy in Dortmund, goals are more than inevitable.

"It's nice, that is the way it is supposed to be," he told Viasat Norway. "It's only been a few weeks since I’ve arrived and it is special to get to a new club, but it’s insane how much I feel like a part of the team already. The atmosphere within the squad is great.

"When me and my dad decided upon this club, we were looking at all the players who could play me in [on goal]. And you can see that today, there's an extreme amount of quality within this side. After only a couple of minutes on the pitch, I got a perfect pass from Jadon [Sancho] and then there are guys like [Thorgan] Hazard and [Marco] Reus, who are extremely good players.

"Everyone here is rather talented. It worked out well today and it is the coach who decides how we should play. It’s up to us to deliver on the pitch. And you can see that the connection to the other players is already in place. That's the way it is with such talented players who play at such a high level."

Borussia Dortmund turned the game around yesterday with Jadon Sancho (l.), Giovanni Reyna (c.) and Erling Haaland (r.) in attack - all of them teenagers.

Haaland's latest hat-trick - and sixth of the 2019/20 season - means he joins a seven-member club of Bundesliga players to score three times on their debut and is the first player to do so since Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang back in August 2013.

Aubameyang's team that day? Dortmund. Their opponents? Augsburg. His shirt number? 17.

Aubameyang and Haaland have all three in common and should the Norwegian - who became the first of his countrymen to score a Bundesliga goal for BVB - go on to replicate his Gabon predecessor's incredible record of 141 goals in 213 Dortmund appearances, he will become a legend at the Signal Iduna Park in next to no time.

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