Norwegian rising star Erling Braut Haaland came off the bench to claim a hat-trick inside 20 minutes on his debut for Borussia Dortmund and inspired a 5-3 comeback win against Augsburg in the Bundesliga on Saturday — despite not being fully fit.
The 19-year-old showed why Dortmund paid Austrian club Red Bull Salzburg 20 million euros (US$22 million) for him last month when he came on in the 56th minute with his new team 3-1 down.
However, Dortmund coach Lucien Favre said that the teen lacks full fitness following a knee knock.
Photo: AFP
“He didn’t train at all in December, he had an injury, and in our training camp we couldn’t do much for three or four days,” Favre said. “He’s not quite ready to play the 90 minutes and we have another game on Friday” at home against Cologne.
Haaland said he was “pretty relaxed” about his hat-trick and brushed off questions about his fitness, asking: “did I look fit?”
“I’m at a fantastic club with great teammates and good people around me,” he said. “I came here to score goals and it was a good debut for me.”
Dortmund’s victory left them fourth in the table, level on points with defending champions Bayern Munich and Schalke 04, but seven points behind leaders RB Leipzig, who opened a five-point gap at the top with a 3-1 win over Union Berlin.
Elsewhere, Kwon Chang-hoon and Nils Petersen scored SC Freiburg’s goals in a 2-1 win against FSV Mainz 05, while Werder Bremen kept a clean sheet for the first time this season as an own-goal by Florian Kastenmeier secured a 1-0 win against Fortuna Duesseldorf.
Cologne won 3-1 win at home against VfL Wolfsburg and Eintracht Frankfurt beat TSG 1899 Hoffenheim 2-1.
SERIE A
AP and AFP, MILAN, Italy
Ciro Immobile scored a hat-trick on Saturday to help SS Lazio crush UC Sampdoria 5-1 as Simone Inzaghi’s side continued to look like a genuine title contender.
It was a club record-extending 11th straight Serie A win for Lazio and saw them close within three points of leaders Juventus and one behind second-placed Inter.
Lazio will be full of confidence ahead of a tough week. They face Roma in a capital derby this weekend after continuing their defense of the Coppa Italia against SSC Napoli on Wednesday.
“We’ll enjoy this 11th win, but we have to already be thinking about the next matches,” Inzaghi said. “We know what a derby means but I can’t allow myself to think about Roma.”
Napoli fell 2-0 at home against ACF Fiorentina on Saturday, leaving last season’s Serie A runners-up scrambling to save their season as they fell to 13th, closer to relegation than the Champions League.
LA LIGA
AP, BARCELONA, Spain
Defensive specialist Casemiro scored his first brace for Real Madrid to ensure a 2-1 home win over Sevilla in La Liga action on Saturday.
Casemiro broke the deadlock for Madrid in the 57th minute when the Brazil midfielder was set up by Luka Jovic.
Sevilla striker Luuk de Jong, who had a goal ruled out by a video review in the first half, leveled in the 64th minute before Casemiro headed the hosts back in front five minutes later.
I’m pleased “not only for the goals, but also for the hard work of all the team against a great rival,” Casemiro said. “It was a typical Madrid-Sevilla [game]. These three points are important.”
The victory lifted Madrid into the lead and three points ahead of second-placed Barcelona, who were to play Granada after press time last night.
Atletico Madrid fell further behind in third place after losing 2-0 to Sociedad Deportiva Eibar.
Deportivo Alaves forward Aleix Vidal scored in the second half to secure a 1-0 win against Levante UD, while Real Valladolid and CA Osasuna drew 0-0.
COUPE DE FRANCE
AP, PARIS
Two goals and two assists from 16-year-old forward Rayan Cherki helped Olympique Lyonnais win 4-3 against Nantes and reach the last 16 of the Coupe de France on Saturday, while run of JS Saint-Pierroise from the Reunion Island Premier League ended with a 1-0 loss away against SAS Epinal.
Other Ligue 1 winners on Saturday were OGC Nice, Lille OSC, AS Saint-Etienne and RC Strasbourg Alsace.
Carlos Alcaraz on Monday powered into the French Open second round with a resounding win to start his title defense, while world No. 1 Jannik Sinner and three-time defending women’s champion Iga Swiatek also progressed at Roland Garros. Four-time Grand Slam champion Alcaraz struck 31 winners in a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 victory over Italian qualifier Giulio Zeppieri and is to face Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan in round two. Alcaraz is now on an eight-match winning streak at the French Open and also took Olympic silver at Roland Garros last year, losing the final to Novak Djokovic. “The first round is never
TIGHT FINISH: Napoli only needed to do the same as or better than Inter, who won their game against Como 2-0 on the same day, leaving Napoli with a one-point lead The two players who Antonio Conte wanted more than any others secured Napoli their second Serie A title in three years on Friday. Scott McTominay scored with an acrobatic bicycle kick before halftime and Romelu Lukaku doubled the lead with a solo goal after the break in the decisive 2-0 home win over Cagliari. Conte became the first coach to win the Italian championship with three different teams. “Everyone contributed to this — but the coach most of all,” Napoli captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo said. “Napoli needed him to get back on top. He’s phenomenal.” Comparing it to his three Serie A titles won
The journey of Taiwan’s badminton mixed doubles duo Ye Hong-wei and Nicole Chan at the Malaysia Masters in Kuala Lumpur came to an end in the semi-finals yesterday after they suffered a 2-0 loss to China’s Feng Yanzhe and Huang Dongping. Ye, 25, and Chan, 20, teamed up last year and are currently ranked No. 23 in the world. The Taiwanese shuttlers took on China’s second seeds in the mixed doubles event, but proved no match for Feng and Huang, losing the match 10-21, 7-21. In the first half of the first game, the pairings were neck and neck at 6-7 until Ye
SSC Napoli coach Antonio Conte has dragged the team back from disaster and restored them to the top of Italian Serie A, but his future at the Scudetto winners is in doubt even after a triumphant season. The fiery 55-year-old has exceeded preseason expectations and bolstered his reputation as a serial winner by guiding Napoli to their fourth Scudetto, and second in three seasons. However, he might well be on his way in the summer after just one season at the helm as his charged relationship with Napoli owner Aurelio De Laurentiis has simmered throughout the campaign. Conte has said
RSS