Berlin (AFP)

Borussia Dortmund can thank Erling Haaland: the Ruhr club temporarily took the lead in the championship after their victory on the wire thanks to a goal from their Norwegian striker on Friday against Hoffenheim 3-2 at the opening of the third day of the Bundesliga .

The brilliant center-forward of the Ruhr club saved Borussia from a bad step, in a bitter match where Hoffenheim, first curled up in defense before playing his all-out, long thought to hang BVB.

This duel between the two best attacks of the championship took time to keep its promises.

Despite a clear domination of the BVB in the first period, Marco Rose's men came up against the compact defense of Hoffenheim, of which three players were warned, with a first card from twenty seconds into the game.

Hoffenheim even had the clearest opportunity, with a header on the post of his stirring Croatian striker Andrej Kramaric (3rd), even if Marco Reus could have benefited from a penalty (26th).

Dortmund were finally saved by their talented youth on three occasions: the American Giovanni Reyna (18), the Englishman Jude Bellingham (18) and therefore the Norwegian Erling Haaland (21) allowed the Schwarzgelben to take all three points (49th, 69th, 90 + 1).

The joy of the Norwegian striker from Dortmund, Erling Haaland, after scoring the winning goal (3-2) in added time against Hoffenheim, during their Bundesliga match, August 27, 2021 in Dortmund Ina Fassbender AFP

Meanwhile, Austrian international Christoph Baumgartner was rewarded for his good defensive game by equalizing with an uncontrolled strike after a subtle assist from outside the right foot of Dennis Geiger (61st) and Israeli Munas Dabbur had thought given the point of draw to his own at the very end of the match (90th).

Mute during the defeat in Freiburg last weekend, Haaland then found the net for the 63rd time in 64 matches with BVB.

Bayern, which is part of a quartet of four-point teams, has the opportunity to take the lead in the event of a victory on Saturday (6.30 p.m., 4.30 p.m. GMT) against Hertha Berlin, a red lantern after two defeats, just like the Bayer Leverkusen (3rd), who travels to Augsburg (17th).

Sunday, the poster for the third day will oppose two teams qualified in the Champions League: Wolsburg, with two victories in two matches, welcomes Leipzig (7th), wide winner of Stuttgart last weekend.

© 2021 AFP