Leipzig (Germany) (AFP)

Goal from Sancho, doubled from Haaland: the two 20-year-old prodigies offered Dortmund a crucial victory on Saturday in Leipzig (3-1), allowing the passage to Bayern to keep alone the lead after 15 days of the Bundesliga despite their defeat the day before in Mönchengladbach (3-2).

The Englishman Jadon Sancho opened the scoring (55th) and the Norwegian Erling Haaland scored a brace (71st, 84th).

Alexander Sorloth saved the honor of RB at the end of the match (90th).

In the standings, Bayern is still the leader with 33 points, ahead of Leipzig (31 pts) and Leverkusen (29 pts).

Thanks to this victory, Borussia (28 pts) glued to the leading group and above all gave themselves a little air in the top 4, qualifying for the next Champions League.

A few hours earlier, Union Berlin and Wolfsburg, in the fight to integrate the leading square, separated in a 2-2 draw which leaves them both in fifth position three points behind BVB.

The defense of Leipzig, who had conceded only nine goals in 14 Bundesliga games (including three against Bayern), this time shattered against the individual talent of the young yellow and black strikers.

For Dortmund, who were 8 points behind leader Munich at kick-off, this match was already the last chance.

After the dismissal of Lucien Favre in mid-December, the team did not seem truly liberated, and its game remained difficult, despite three victories - including one in the Cup - and one defeat before this meeting.

- Middle battle -

"Everyone knew it was a crucial game for us. We showed a good reaction and deserved this victory," said midfielder Emre Can.

Envy, combativeness, creativity: the qualities of BVB seemed to reappear all at once, in the second half, in the Leipzig stadium empty of any spectator.

Because for fifty minutes, the clash between the two challengers of Bayern first turned to the battle of the midfield, intensive, of course, but not very productive: Dortmund did not shoot on goal once in the first period, and Leipzig only three times.

The game took a turn for the worse soon after the break, when visitors found the keys to a game that had been locked.

In the 55th minute, Erling Haaland, who had touched a total of five balls before the break, accelerated to the right, and found Marco Reus who followed superbly for Jadon Sancho.

The young Englishman resumed in full race without control and opened the scoring (1-0, 55th).

Suddenly, the match was unbridled.

Haaland for Dortmund, and Dani Olmo for Leipzig, hit the crossbar in the 65th and 67th minutes, then Haaland, in his powerful style, victoriously headed a cross from Sancho to double the bet (2-0, 71st ).

A few minutes later, the Norwegian scored his 35th goal in 34 games since arriving in Dortmund, dribbling RB goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi (84th) and sealing the match, despite the reduction of the gap a few minutes later.

- Schalke defeats the curse -

In the other expected encounter of the afternoon, Schalke 04 ended a streak of 30 consecutive games without a win in the Bundesliga, beating Hoffenheim (4-0) thanks to a hat-trick from the American Matthew Hoppe and a goal of Moroccan Amine Harit.

In extremis, the Ruhr club will therefore not join Tasmania Berlin, which will remain alone with its historic record: a series of 31 matches without winning, in 1965-66.

Schalke gives up last place in Mainz but remains 17th and relegated, three points behind potential play-off Bielefeld, which hosts Hertha Berlin on Sunday.

© 2021 AFP