Another two goals. Another brace in Leipzig. For the eighth time in his fledgling Bundesliga career – he has made 25 appearances since January 2020 – Erling Haaland has scored (at least) two goals in a match. "I like scoring against Leipzig," he said following the 3-1 away victory over the second-placed side from Saxony.

25 goals in 25 games – no other player in the history of the Bundesliga has scored as many goals in their first 25 appearances as the 20-year-old Norwegian. The record was previously held by Hamburg legend Uwe Seeler (23 goals).

Leipzig coach Julian Nagelsmann was full of praise for Haaland, saying: "He has immense quality. In addition, he's still very, very young, which means that he has the potential to develop and get even better. The league will certainly enjoy his presence – but the opposition won't always."

Haaland headed home Jadon Sancho's perfect cross to make it 2-0 in the 71st minute ("My second headed goal for BVB"), before increasing the lead to 3-0 13 minutes later courtesy of a sensational pass from Marco Reus. Every part of the goal was executed to perfection: the timed pass from Reus into space, Haaland's run at exactly the right moment. Within the space of two seconds, striker and defender were no longer level but separated by a metre. "I'm very happy with the victory," said Haaland, who continued: "The first half was slightly slow-going. We adjusted a few details in the break. We need to carry that second half over into our upcoming games. We scored some lovely goals; we have a lot of quality. We need to show this quality."

The attacking sensation's thoughts were also with his team-mate Axel Witsel, who was forced off with an injury on the 30-minute mark: "We were also playing for Axel. We wish him a speedy recovery."
Boris Rupert