Haaland nets last-gasp winner on return to keep pressure on Bayern

Erling Haaland came off the bench to score a last-minute winner for Borussia Dortmund against Fortuna Dusseldorf.

The first chance of the game came for the away side as Emre Can connected with a header from a Jadon Sancho corner but his effort wasn’t strong enough to test Zack Steffen in the Dusseldorf net.

Dortmund came close to breaking the deadlock on 17 minutes after the home side were caught on the counter-attack from their own corner, Sancho worked it well, picking out Achraf Hakimi in acres of space but he failed to beat the keeper from close-range.

As the half grew, the visitors controlled much of the ball but struggled to create too many clear-cut opportunities with the Dusseldorf defence holding strong.

The first chance of the second half came from Dusseldorf midfielder Erik Thommy who worked some space on the left side of the box, but it was comfortable save for Roman Burki in the Dortmund goal.

Haaland was introduced off the bench in place of  Axel Witsel just past the hour mark, making his return from injury after missing the last two games against Paderborn and Hertha Berlin with a knee injury.

Shortly after, the hosts had a great chance to take the lead as Thommy hit a shot goalwards under pressure from Dortmund, then the ball fell to Marcel Sobottka whose effort was well saved by Burki.

The visitors thought they had taken the lead on the following counter attack, after some neat build-up play saw the ball reach Raphaël Guerreiro who applied a brilliant finish on the volley into the top corner, only for it to be chalked off for a handball from the goalscorer via VAR.

With less than ten minutes remaining, the hosts nearly took a shock lead, Steven Skrzybski hitting the post after being played through into the box.

Skrzybski hit the post again in added time after working some space in the box but just hit the outside of the post.

The Norwegian striker Haaland eventually would break the deadlock to secure three points for BVB, glancing in a header with time almost elapsed.

The result means Dortmund are four points behind Bayern Munich, who host Borussia Mönchengladbach later today.

As for Dusseldorf, they remain in 16th, ahead of  Werder Bremen on just goal difference, who secured an impressive 5-1 away victory at bottom club Paderborn earlier today.