Mitchel Bakker (R) of Leverkusen vies with Erling Haaland of Dortmund during the German first division Bundesliga football match between Bayer 04 Leverkusen and Borussia Dortmund in Leverkusen, Germany, Sept. 11, 2021. (Photo by Joachim Bywaletz/Xinhua)
BERLIN, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- Borussia Dortmund came from behind and overpowered Bayer Leverkusen in a seven-goal thriller by courtesy on Erling Haaland's brace at the curtain raiser of the 4th round in Bundesliga on Saturday.
It was the "Werkself" though who caught a fairy-tale start in front of home crowd as Florian Wirtz finished off Paulinho's defence-splitting through ball with a well-placed shot into the bottom right corner in the 9th minute.
Dortmund should have responded with its next attack, but former Leverkusen midfielder Julian Brandt pulled over the bar from promising position two minutes later.
Haaland cut a better figure in front of Leverkusen's target as the Norway international had all time and space to head home Thomas Meunier's pinpoint cross into the box with 37 minutes gone.
The "BVB" thought they had taken the lead moments later, but Jude Bellingham's goal was disallowed due to a foregone foul play by teammate Mahmoud Dahoud.
Instead, Leverkusen shocked Dortmund with the 2-1 just before the break after Wirtz build-up work allowed Patrik Schick to beat goalkeeper Gregor Kobel with an effort into the far post corner.
Dortmund came out with its guns blazing after the restart as Raphael Guerreiro sent a warning in the early stages of the second half before Brandt eventually got his name on the scoreboards and levelled the scores with a shot from tight angle in the 49th minute.
The visitor's lead didn't last too long as Leverkusen's Moussa Diaby unleashed a long-rang hammer from 17 meters to take the 3-2 lead.
Marco Rose's men remained unimpressed and rallied back with two goals as Guerreiro restored parity with a free-kick goal in the 71st minute before Haaland sealed the deal after making no mistake from the penalty spot six minutes later.
With the result, Borussia Dortmund climb on the 2nd spot of the Bundesliga standings whereas Bayer Leverkusen slipped to the 5th place.
Elsewhere, the "Wolves" maintain their perfect start into the season after reaping their fourth win in as many games with a 2-0 win over Greuther Furth. Wolfsburg staged a clinical performance against the newcomers and snatched all three points on the road thanks to the goals from Lukas Nmecha and Wout Weghorst.
Mainz secured its second straight win after beating Hoffenheim 2-0 on the goals from Jonathan Burkardt and Marcus Ingvartsen.
Union Berlin played out a goalless draw with Augsburg while Freiburg and Cologne shared the spoils following a 1-1. Enditem
