UEFA Champions League: Erling Haaland's brace trumps Sevilla in Round-of-16 first leg tie
An empty Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan was treated to a thrilling encounter between Sevilla and Dortmund in match day 2 of the quarter-finals first-leg in the Champions League.
Sevilla and Dortmund’s only previous match-up in European competition came back in the 2010/11 Europa League group stages – when Dortmund drew 2-2 at Sanchez Pizjuan after having lost 1-0 at Signal Iduna.
This time around, Dortmund emerged victorious, making a three goal comeback in the first half after Argentine attacker Suso gave the home team the lead only after seven minutes. Suso struck a shot with his right foot from just outside the 18-yard-box – which picked up an unfortunate deflection from Mats Hummels on its way in, sending Marwin Hitz the wrong way. 1-0.
Twelve minutes later, Haaland picked up the ball from the right and sent it across centrally to Dahoud, whose first goal in the Champions League turned out to be a spectacular long-range curler from almost 25 yards out, giving no chance for a fully-stretched Yassine Bounou. 1-1. Game on.
The rest of the first half belonged to one man, Erling Braut Haaland. In the 27th minute, a quick one-two with Jadon Sancho on the edge of the box saw Haaland dribble past few Sevilla players before laying it out to Sancho, who then made no mistake in lobbing the ball back to the Norwegian past the Sevilla defence. Haaland pounced on the opportunity and slid one in the back of the net. 1-2.
He did one better at the end of the first half, in the 44th minute after Dortmund launched a scathing counterattack thanks to Sevilla’s loss of possession. Reus drifted through the midfield before laying out Haaland on his left foot. The 20-year-old comfortably completed the move with a sweet finesse into the back of the net. 1-3.
Losing an early lead and trailing Dortmund by two goals at the end of first half prompted Julen Lopetegui to make four changes after half-time – bringing in Luuk De Jong, Nemaja Gudelj, Munir El-Haddadi and Oliver Torres – to boost Sevilla’s attack.
Although the home side’s attacks came in repeatedly, Dortmund looked comfortable in the back. Perhaps the closest Sevilla came to getting back in the game was in the 74th minute through substitute Oscar Rodriguez’s free kick, which hit the post before striking goalkeeper Hitz’s hand.
Exactly ten minutes later, Luuk De Jong positioned himself perfectly to tap-in a free kick delivery from Rodriguez. A goal that could well be attributed to poor defending and marking by the Germans. 2-3.
The final minutes were filled with drama as Sancho almost finished the game off with a shot that drifted wide off the post. The game came to a close with a potential VAR penalty decision in the 94th minute against Thomas Meunier, who seemed to have fouled striker De Jong – but played was waved on by the referee.
The match ended in Dortmund’s favour, with the Die Schwarzengleben holding onto a narrow victory before they host Sevilla in the Round of 16 2nd leg at Signal Iduna Park.