A double on the way to Seville, another on the return Tuesday, March 9.

20-year-old Norwegian prodigy Erling Haaland, who reigns in the Champions League, almost single-handedly qualified Borussia Dortmund for the quarter-finals.

After their 3-2 victory in the first leg in Spain, Dortmund conceded a 2-2 draw on their lawn at Signal Iduna Park, without their legendary "Yellow Wall".

Youssef En-Nesyri also managed a brace for Sevilla (2-1, 68th and 2-2, 90 + 6), but his last goal was too late to allow his people to snatch an extension.

If they weren't so mind-boggling, and heralding an extraordinary career, Haaland's stats would end up getting boring.

Neither Ronaldo nor Messi had similar ones at the same age. 

This striker passed by RB Salzburg is this season the best of the Champions League with ten goals in eight matches.

He also became the first player to score 20 goals (in just 14 matches!) In the premier competition before his 21st birthday.

Even Kylian Mbappé had stopped at 19.

According to statistician Opta, he also becomes the first player to score four straight doubles in the competition.

20 - Erling Haaland has become the youngest player to score in 6 consecutive Champions League meetings (20 years and 231 days).

Amazing.

#BVBSevilla pic.twitter.com/jOaSWMrc6g

- OptaJean (@OptaJean) March 9, 2021

And this giant (1.95 m) barely out of adolescence is not content to martyr the goalkeepers: he is also one of the leaders of his team, by his commitment, his defensive folds to come and tackle in his own surface, and his body language for 90 minutes, which Dortmund wins or loses.

An incomprehensible VAR

His first goal is a recovery six meters from a center back from Marco Reus (35th).

Not the goal of the year, but you had to be in a good position.

His second is the result of a succession of VAR decisions that are difficult for neophytes to follow!

While he had scored a spectacular goal, the referee canceled it for a foul (confirmed by the VAR), but awarded him ... a penalty, spotted thanks to the VAR on the previous action. 

The goalkeeper saved the penalty and Sevilla counterattacked.

But the video assistant intervened again, to say that the guard had moved.

And Haaland was entitled to a second chance, which he did not let pass (2-0, 54th).

For Dortmund, this qualification confirms the end of a black series, which culminated with the ousting of coach Lucien Favre in mid-December, and his replacement by his deputy Edin Terzic.

The new manager has been slow to find the settings, and Borussia have slipped to 6th position in the Bundesliga, but the latest results (five wins in six matches) prove that the team has regained its confidence.

The only defeat was conceded on Saturday against Bayern (4-2), in a match where Dortmund led 2-0 thanks to a double from Haaland.

Certainly, Dortmund - who won the Champions League only once (1997) - is not one of the big teams who openly admit their ambition to win the Champions League.

But his quarter-final opponent will somehow have to neutralize Haaland, a 20-year-old warrior whose limits no one yet knows.

With AFP

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