Erling Haaland was the man of the match in a game with Neymar Jnr and Kylian Mbappe on the same pitch. The Norwegian made his Champions League debut for Borrusia Dortmund and scored a brace in a 2-1 win over Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of their last-16 clash.
Haaland has now scored a total of 10 goals in seven Champions League match, having scored eight goals in the group stage for Red Bull Salzburg. The young striker scored his first goal at the 69th minuted and bagged the second one at the 77th minute. With his 10 UCL goals, he has moved level with Robert Lewandowski as the competition’s highest goalscorer.
The Dortmund striker scored his second goal before Neymar responded and scored one for PSG to the French side an away goal ahead of the second leg in three weeks’ time in Paris. The Brazilain returned to the team after a rib injury and started the game with an impressive display. Neymar whipped a free-kick wide in the11th-minute, but that was the only chance PSG in troubling and the hosts dominated the first half.
England international Jadon Sancho was the first to test Keylor Navas with a low curling effort and went on to cause problems for PSG on the counter. While Achraf Hakimi also tormented Presnel Kimpembe and Layvin Kurzawa down the Dortmund right.
The Dortmund dominated PSG in the midfield with Axel Witsel and Emre Can dominating and overruning Marco Veratti and Idrissa Gueye. But Can’s choice of pass was poor and he wasted an excellent chance with a heavy touch after Hakimi’s smart cutback.
PSG started the second half on the high but they were curtailed when Hakimi and then Sancho had chances to cross but could not find a teammate in the middle. Dortmund keeper Roman Burki was first tested on 65 minutes when he denied Mbappe after a rare flowing move involving Neymar and Angel Di Maria.
Dortmund finally found the breakthrough in the 69th minute when Sancho released Hakimi on the overlap down that porous right flank, and though Guerreiro’s effort from his cut-back was blocked, Haaland reacted first to toe into the roof of the net.
PSG immediately leveled when Mbappe passed through three Dortmund defenders and found Neymar to score what may yet prove to be a crucial away goal. But Dortmund scored again as Haaland lashed a thunderous left-footed strike into the top corner from 20 yards for his 11th goal since joining Dortmund in January.
Neymar was close to equalising for PSG in the closing minutes but his strike hit the woodwork as Dortmund held on to take a slender advantage to Paris for the second leg at the Parc des Princes on March 11.
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