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Everything Erling Haaland does is magic, even when he fucks up.
Haaland was unable to add to his tally of 41 goals in his 35th match but still helped create Borussia Dortmund’s first goal in a 2-0 victory over Wolfsburg on Saturday.
After scoring upon Bundesliga’s return last week, Haaland was fairly quiet on the road this time around. In fact, BVB in general failed to create the number of chances you come to expect from one of Europe’s most exciting teams.
Some of this might have been down to the club looking ahead to a match with league-leading Bayern Munich on Tuesday, but credit must be given to the John Brooks-led defense, which stymied the Dortmund attack, for the most part.
Dortmund’s only real chance in the first half came after some clever play from Julian Brandt on the right wing helped spring Thorgan Hazard in the box. Hazard played a ball right to the feet of an open Haaland in the box.
Normally the 19-year-old would show an uncanny finishing ability for his age. This time he completely whiffed.
This being Haaland, he still created a goal with his failure, with the miss providing the perfect fake to allow Raphaël Guerreiro to bury the cross for the game’s opening goal.
Erling Haaland totally meant to do that @BlackYellow pic.twitter.com/eQpZ4pqjDG
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) May 23, 2020
Haaland obviously did not mean to completely miss his shot like that, but he didn’t mind one bit, celebrating the goal as if he had been the one to score it. While Haaland idolizes Cristiano Ronaldo, the fact he can celebrate a teammate’s goal like his own separates him from the Portuguese superstar.
After the goal, Wolfsburg was the better of the two sides but couldn’t find a way past Roman Bürki. Renato Steffen stung the BVB keeper’s palms with a wicked volley in the second half but not long later the visitors struck on the break to finally create a bit of breathing room.
Jadon Sancho, who drew a yellow from John Brooks seconds after coming onto the pitch, created more havoc on a counterattack, teeing up Achraf Hakimi to put the match away in the 78th minute.
Achraf. Hakimi.
Team goals don't get much better than this @BlackYellow pic.twitter.com/LhvJxsz6H8— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) May 23, 2020
A VAR-assisted red card for Felix Klaus a couple minutes later further deflated Wolfsburg as the match tapered out in the closing moments.
The win pulled Dortmund within a point of Bayern, albeit with the reigning champs still to play later Saturday.
Perhaps the biggest moment of worry for Dortmund came when Mats Hummels was pulled at halftime and replaced by Emre Can. Reports suggest the veteran center back is dealing with a foot injury and fans will hope it’s just precautionary with Bayern coming to town on Tuesday.
In addition to American John Brooks, Gio Reyna made an appearance for BVB, replacing Hazard in the 79th minute. He had been penciled in to receive his first start last week before an injury during warmups forced him out. With Marco Reus still out injured, expect the 17-year-old Reyna to continue to receive chances with the BVB first team as the season continues and in the years to come, seeing as Mario Götze is likely to leave after the season.
