Erling Haaland scored twice on his return from injury to help Borussia Dortmund beat Mainz 3-1 and move to top of the Bundesliga table.

Haaland blasted a penalty in the 54th minute following a lengthy VAR review over a hand ball and then again in second half stoppage time. Haaland now has an incredible 13 goals in 9 games this season.

The result moved Dortmund two points clear of Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen ahead of their eighth-round game on Sunday.

The Norwegian forward had been out since late September, with muscular problems. Dortmund struggled in his absence with a loss at Borussia Monchengladbach followed by narrow wins over Sporting Lisbon and Augsburg.

 

Captain Marco Reus opened the scoring on Saturday, unleashing a brilliant shot with his left boot inside the top right corner in the third minute.

It was Reus’ 14th goal in 20 games against Mainz, the most he has scored against any Bundesliga club.

Dortmund went on to dominate the game with almost 80% possession in the first half alone.

Thomas Meunier’s right-wing cross deflected into the path of the BVB captain, who thundered an unstoppable strike into the roof of the net from 16 yards.

Haaland followed up and sent the ball back in toward goal, where Jude Bellingham’s effort was cleared off the line by Moussa Niakhate.

Haaland scored Dortmund’s second after Silvan Widmer was penalized through VAR for hand ball after the ball hit his elbow. Mainz coach Bo Svensson was booked for sarcastically applauding the decision to award the spot kick.

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