Teen sensation Erling Braut Håland scores debut hat-trick to save Borussia Dortmund
As debut performances go, Erling Braut Håland’s for Borussia Dortmund was certainly one to remember.
With his team trailing 3-1 away at Augsburg, the teenage sensation came on as a 56th-minute substitute and turned the game on its head.
Within just 23 minutes of being on the pitch, Håland struck a stunning hat-trick to lead his team to a 5-3 victory.
Jadon Sancho and Julian Brandt got Dortmund’s other goals to ensure Lucien Favre’s side remain in the hunt for the Bundesliga title.
It means Håland has now scored a hat-trick in all four competitions he’s played in this season — the Austrian Cup, Champions League, Austrian Bundesliga and German Bundesliga — and becomes only the second player in Dortmund’s history, after Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, to score a debut Bundesliga treble.
That the 19-year-old’s debut hat-tricks in the Champions League and Bundesliga both came with his first three shots gives some indication of just how lethal he is in front of goal.
Following his goal-scoring exploits for Red Bull Salzburg in the Champions League and the Austrian Bundesliga, Håland became the most sought-after talent in European football.
Several of the continent’s biggest clubs, including Manchester United and Juventus, were rumored to be interested in the Norwegian star but Dortmund beat them all to his signature.
The German club reportedly paid just €20 million ($22M) for Håland’s services; even after just one match, it’s already looking like a bargain.
READ: Teenage wonderkid Erling Haland joins Borussia Dortmund until 2024
READ: Erling Braut Håland has ‘potential to be an incredibly great player’
Another debut treble
Håland has a history of scoring debut hat-tricks, netting a treble on his first ever Champions League appearance against Genk back in September.
Those goals made the footballing world take notice of this special talent and it proved to be anything but a flash in the pan.
Håland went on to score another five goals in the Champions League group stages to take his total to eight, second in the charts behind only former Dortmund striker Robert Lewandowski.
In an interview with CNN back in November, Håland’s coach at RB Salzburg, American Jesse Marsch, said the striker had the “potential to be an incredibly great player.”
In the space of a few months, Håland’s goal-scoring feats — 22 goals in 18 appearances, including four hat-tricks in the Austrian top flight and the Champions League — put him on the radar of a host of Europe’s leading teams.
Håland moved to Salzburg in Austria in January 2019 from Norwegian club Molde and started the new season in red hot form, scoring two hat-tricks in his opening four games of the season.
Talent and humility
In May, Håland scored nine goals in a single game for Norway’s Under-20 team as it defeated Honduras 12-0 in a World Cup game.
He then seamlessly transferred his goal-scoring form to Europe’s leading club competition, becoming the first ever player to score six goals in his first three Champions League appearances.
“It’s the talent he has but it’s more importantly his personality,” said Marsch. “I haven’t seen one selfish moment since I’ve known him in the last six months.
“We went through a time period where he was giving up penalties to his teammates, because he just felt like he wanted to share the positive energy with other guys in the team and I had to actually step in and say no, Erling is taking our penalties.”
Next up for Dortmund is a clash with FC Koln — if Håland is playing, expect more goals.
