SAN FRANCISCO, November 22, (THEWILL) – Just fresh off his 2020 Golden Boy Award, Erling Haaland struck four second-half goals and German forward Youssoufa Moukoko came on to become the Bundesliga’s youngest ever player as Borussia Dortmund stormed back to beat Hertha Berlin 5-2 in the capital on Saturday.
Starting a run of 10 games in a month, Dortmund shuffled the squad, leaving new USA cap Gio Reyna and England winger Jadon Sancho on the bench. A day after his 16th birthday, Moukoko was also on the bench, for the first time.
While the visitors dominated with over 60 percent of the ball in the first half, Hertha showed themselves to be a constant threat. And no one gave a better hint of this in the opening 10 minutes than Belgian winger Dodi Lukebakio. He sprinted from halfway to the edge of the visitors’ area before firing over.
Marco Reus then forced Hertha goalie Alexander Schwolow into action at the other end with a tight-angled effort from 12 yards. And immediately, Matheus Cunha and Vladimir Darida looked to threaten for the home side.
While Reus’ free-kick from the left flew just out of reach of Axel Witsel at the back post, Brazilian attacker Cunha had better luck at the Dortmund post.
He got a pass from Lukebakio out of his feet quickly then hit a thunderous 25-yard strike past Roman Burki in the visiting goal. Dortmund almost levelled in stoppage time of the first period, but Haaland was just about prevented from tapping home Raphael Guerreiro’s pass.
They will not be able to prevent him in the second half. Haaland opened his account for the day within 75 seconds of the restart, finishing off a sweeping Dortmund move that included Thomas Meunier, Reus and finally, Emre Can before the former Salzburg striker tapped home.
The 20-year-old Norwegian made it two in three minutes. He ran on to Julian Brandt’s through ball and drilled a shot beyond goalkeeper Schwolow.
Slovakia left back Peter Pekarik almost bundled home an equaliser for Hertha as the game opened up, but Haaland was on hand to complete a remarkable 15-minute hat-trick when he latched onto Marvin Plattenhardt’s stray backpass and slotted home after rounding Schwolow.
Guerreiro entered his name in the goal-fest with 20 minutes left when he scrambled the ball in from Meunier’s cutback. Left winger Cunha reduced the arrears from the penalty spot after Manuel Akanji felled Matteo Guendouzi but incredibly, Haaland wasn’t done yet.
Straight from the restart after the penalty, Dortmund restored their three-goal advantage. Golden Boy Haaland entered into double-figure goals in the league after substitute Jude Bellingham slipped him through.
Moukoko then replaced Haaland with four minutes remaining to become the youngest ever player to feature in the Bundesliga as Dortmund took home all three points and moved within one of Bayern at the top of the table.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
