SI

Erling Haaland Follows Kylian Mbappé With Sensational Champions League Performance

Haaland had two goals and an assist before halftime, following up Kylian Mbappé's sensational UCL match with one of his own.

Avi Creditor

A day after Kylian Mbappé stole the Champions League headlines for his hat trick vs. Barcelona, Erling Haaland made sure to remind all that the "next great generational star" conversation is indeed still a conversation.

Haaland had two goals and an assist in the first half of Borussia Dortmund's 3-2, last-16, first-leg win vs. Sevilla–a side that entered the match on a string of seven straight clean sheets. Like Mbappé, who is two years his elder, Haaland did his damage on the road, in Spain. First, it was his hold up play, vision and passing that set up Mahmoud Dahoud for a long-range equalizer and nullified an early concession. 

Haaland turned up the heat from there, first combining with Jadon Sancho on a give-and-go to give Dortmund the lead in the 27th minute.

Haaland was the beneficiary of Dortmund's press in the 43rd, taking a feed from Marco Reus and going inside the far post to extend Dortmund's lead to 3-1 before the halftime whistle.

Luuk de Jong's late goal pulled one back for Sevilla and leaves their series considerably more in the balance than PSG and Barcelona's, with PSG holding a 4-1 advantage after Mbappé's heroics.

In his post-match remarks, Haaland credited Mbappé for inspiring him to his performance.

"I saw Mbappé yesterday, and he scored some nice goals and I got the free boost from him," Haaland said.

Haaland, just 20, has 18 goals in 13 career Champions League matches and leads all scorers in this season's competition with eight goals. That tally is made even more impressive when considering he missed two games in the group stage.

Published
Avi Creditor
AVI CREDITOR

Avi Creditor is a senior editor and has covered soccer for more than a decade. He’s also a scrappy left back. 

Home/Soccer