Image Source : AP Borussia Dortmund’s Erling Haaland (far proper) scores his aspect’s profitable aim towards Sevilla in Seville on Wednesday night time.
Erling Haaland scored twice as Borussia Dortmund ended Sevilla’s nine-game profitable streak with a 3-2 come-from-behind victory within the first leg of the spherical of 16 of the Champions League on Wednesday.
The hosts took the lead early by Suso Fernández however Dortmund rallied with a aim by Mahmoud Dahoud and Haaland’s double earlier than halftime on the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán Stadium. Luuk de Jong scored Sevilla’s late second aim to enhance the Spanish workforce’s possibilities within the return leg.
“The first half, outside of the early goal, went exactly as we had envisioned it,” Dortmund captain Marco Reus stated. “We sat a little deeper than normal but were very compact. We won the ball well, got it forward onto dangerous positions and took the lead. The first half was very good.”
The win ended Sevilla’s good run and put Dortmund again on monitor after a sequence of poor outcomes that had left coach Edin Terzic beneath strain in Germany.
The second leg will probably be on March 9 in Germany.
In the opposite round-of-16 match on Wednesday, Porto defeated Juventus 2-1 at residence.
Suso opened the scoring for Sevilla within the seventh minute with a shot from exterior the world that deflected off two defenders earlier than discovering the online. The guests equalized when Dahoud fired a right-footed, long-range shot into the highest nook within the nineteenth.
The 20-year-old Haaland put the guests forward within the twenty seventh from inside the world after a pleasant give-and-go alternate of passes with Jadon Sancho, then added to the lead within the forty third from shut vary after a quick breakaway for his 18th aim in 13 Champions League video games.
The Norwegian ahead solely trails Kylian Mbappé because the participant with most Champions League objectives earlier than his twenty first birthday. The 22-year-old Mbappé, who scored a hat trick in Paris Saint-Germain’s 4-1 win at Barcelona on Tuesday, scored 19 objectives earlier than turning 21.
“We had a good plan,” Haaland stated. “Edin has been good and I’ve been speaking rather a lot with him. He stated right this moment could be my sport and that I’d get my possibilities and I did, so it was an necessary win.
“It was not good to let in two goals, but it is good to score three away goals and take them with us.”
De Jong pulled Sevilla nearer with a aim from a set piece within the 84th.
“They have fast players in attack and knew how to use their speed,” Suso stated. “We were not as focused as we should have been and they took advantage of it. In the end it was a fair result. If there’s a team that can surprise, it’s ours. We will try to fix our mistakes going into the next match.”
Dortmund traveled to Spain having received solely one in every of its final six German league matches. It had misplaced its final 4 away matches within the spherical of 16 of the Champions League.
“One sport isn’t sufficient to make every thing from latest weeks proper,” Reus stated. “We took an important step tonight and need to aim to do exactly the same if not more in the derby (against Schalke) this weekend.”
Sevilla’s final loss in all competitions had been a 2-0 defeat to Atlético Madrid within the Spanish league in January. It was coming off a league win towards Huesca and a 2-0 victory over Barcelona within the first leg of the Copa del Rey semifinals.
Sevilla, the reigning Europa League champion, is taking part in within the Champions League for the primary time since 2018, when it misplaced to Bayern Munich within the quarterfinals. Dortmund is taking part in within the spherical of 16 for the seventh time in eight seasons, but it surely final made it to the quarterfinals in 2017, when it misplaced to Monaco.
