Erling Braut Haaland was the star man again as Borussia Dortmund stunned Paris Saint-Germain in their Champions League round-of-16 first leg encounter on Tuesday night with a 2-1 win.
Teenage striker Haaland scored eight times in the group stage for Salzburg before joining Dortmund in January and continuing to plunder goals at a frightening rate.
He took his BVB tally to 11 in seven appearances to deservedly settled the game in Dortmund’s favour, leaving PSG facing the prospect of further heartache at this stage of the competition.
Neymar, returning from a rib injury, had stolen an equaliser with 15 minutes remaining, but Haaland’s second effort – a stunning 18-yard drive – swiftly followed, and Thomas Tuchel has plenty of work to do against his former side back in Paris to avoid a fourth straight last-16 exit.
Haaland wants more
But Haaland, who is now the competition’s top scorer this season along with Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski, is not getting carried away.
“I am glad about the man-of-the-match award, but feel like I still can do a lot better,” he said. “I have to play better at this level, have to work hard to improve.
“The result is quite a dangerous one, as PSG has a very strong team and can still go through in the return leg.”
Haaland’s statistics
Leeds-born Haaland, the son of former Leeds and Manchester City player Alf-Inge Haaland, was linked with Manchester United and Juventus last month but joined Dortmund from Red Bull Salzburg for 20m euros (£17.1m).
Before his move, Haaland scored eight goals in the Champions League group stage for Salzburg, the second highest-tally in the competition at that point.
In the current season, Haaland has scored 54 goals.
Haaland shots an average of 1.74 goals per game in club competitions.
Last season, his average was 0.36 goals per game, he scored 5 goals in 14 club matches.
In the current season for Borussia Dortmund, Haaland gave a total of 85 shots, of which 48 were shots on goal.
His latest goals – one a tap-in and the second a thumping strike from 20 yards – mean he has reached double figures in the Champions League four games faster than any other player in the competition’s history, and is the only teenager to reach double figures in a single season.
Kylian Mbappe, an opponent on Tuesday, did not manage it. Cristiano Ronaldo did not manage it. Even Lionel Messi did not manage it.
In fact, the striker has scored more goals in the Champions League in 2019-20 than the entire Barcelona team, and is the first player in Dortmund’s history to score in his first Bundesliga match, first match in the German Cup and in his first match in the Champions League.
Since joining Dortmund in January, his 11 goals have come in only 450 minutes of football – averaging a goal every 41 minutes.
Only 11 players have scored more Bundesliga goals than Haaland this season, even though he has made only five appearances.
He won the Bundesliga player of the month award for January – despite playing less than an hour of football in the month.
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