Erling Haaland took his goal tally to 11 in eight competitive outings this season as Borussia Dortmund overcame Union Berlin 4-2 on Sunday.
Union had never scored away to Dortmund in their two previous visits, which ended in 2-0 and 5-0 defeats, but they nearly changed all that with just 40 seconds on the clock when Taiwo Awoniyi had the ball in the net, only to see it disallowed for offside. That was the visitors’ only sight of goal for a while, as BVB soon set about flexing their considerable attacking muscle, and they took the lead on 10 minutes when Raphael Guerreiro volleyed in a superb angled drive. Haaland doubled their advantage midway through the half, heading in from Thomas Meunier’s teasing right-wing cross. BVB remained superior for most of the half, but Marvin Friedrich’s long-range effort that was straight at Gregor Kobel was the closest either side came to adding to the scoreline before the interval.
Friedrich was involved again in the game’s next opening, albeit inadvertently. Marco Reus darted into the right side of the Union box and squared the ball into the middle towards Haaland, only for the Union defender to bundle it over the line as he attempted to clear. The hosts looked to be well on course for the win but they handed their visitors a lifeline just before the hour mark when Axel Witsel brought down Kevin Behrens inside the area, and Max Kruse duly converted the resulting spot-kick to reduce the deficit. Julian Ryerson tested Kobel with a vicious shot shortly afterwards as Union attempted to stage a fightback, and they did pull within touching distance of Dortmund when substitute Andreas Voglsammer headed in Nico Gießelmann’s corner, but Haaland restored his side’s two-goal cushion moments later, latching on to a long ball from Mats Hummels, holding off his marker and producing a stunning lob over Andreas Luthe to seal the points for Dortmund.
