Mueez Ajao
– Borussia Dortmund battled to a 3-2 victory at European hopefuls Hoffenheim to close in on leaders Bayern Munich as striker Erling Haaland made it 56 goals in 57 Bundesliga games for the Ruhr valley club.
– The win lifted second-placed Dortmund to 43 points, three behind Bayern, who play at Hertha Berlin on Sunday.
– Dortmund, looking to make it three wins out of three league games this year, got off to a strong start and Haaland tapped in for the lead in the sixth minute from Donyell Malen’s first of three goal assists.
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– Haaland, who had to be taken off injured in the 63rd, has scored 16 times in the league this season.
– Andrej Kramaric’s sensational volley in first half stoppage time drew the hosts level but the visitors struck again in the 58th minute with Marco Reus completing a quickfire passing move with a deft finish.
– Hoffenheim’s afternoon took a further turn for the worse when David Raum drilled the ball into his own net attempting to clear a Malen cutback to give Dortmund a two-goal lead.
– Hoffenheim, battling for a Champions League spot this season, got back into the mix when Georgionio Rutter caught the defence napping to latch onto a clever Munas Dabbour chip and slot in, but they eventually ran out of time.
– Hoffenheim dropped to sixth on 31 points. Bayer Leverkusen stayed in third on 35 with a 5-1 demolition of Augsburg courtesy of a Moussa Diaby hat-trick while Union Berlin climbed to fourth following their 2-1 win at Borussia Moenchengladbach.
