Sevilla 2-3 Dortmund: Haaland double puts visitors in charge

Erling Haaland's remarkable UEFA Champions League scoring record helped Borussia Dortmund to a comeback victory at Sevilla as the German club took a significant step towards a first quarter-final in four years.

Match in brief

In the round of 16 for the first time in three years, Sevilla were quickly out of the traps, Suso's strike deflecting in off Mats Hummels in the seventh minute. Dortmund needed some inspiration and found it via Mahmoud Dahoud's fine curling equaliser 12 minutes later, before Haaland took centre stage yet again.

The Norwegian first exchanged passes with Jadon Sancho and beat goalkeeper Yassine Bounou to the return ball to give the visitors the lead, before Sevilla lost the ball in midfield and Marco Reus played in Haaland to slot under Bounou. It was his eighth goal in this season's competition and makes him the top scorer.

The home side pressed for a way back into the match throughout the second half, but an Óscar Rodríguez free-kick against the woodwork was all they could muster until the substitute's set piece from the left was volleyed in by another replacement, Luuk de Jong, to give Sevilla hope for the second leg.

Player of the Match: Erling Haaland (Dortmund)

"His two fantastic goals were powerful and taken perfectly. His runs were powerful and all of his movements caused a threat. A great first-half performance gave Dortmund the win. His hard work to help the midfield in the first half was really positive. This result wouldn't have happened without him."
Ginés Meléndez, UEFA Technical Observer

Check out every official UEFA Champions League Player of the Match.

Simon Hart, Sevilla reporter

Luuk de Jong celebrates his late goal for SevillaAFP via Getty Images

Sevilla had looked so solid in recent weeks, entering this game on the back of seven straight clean sheets, yet that defensive wall collapsed in a highly damaging first half. For all of Dortmund's attacking excellence (as Julen Lopetegui highlighted beforehand), his players simply gave them too much space – and paid for giving the ball away cheaply for the third goal.

De Jong's late strike, after a more controlled second-half display, provides a glimmer of hope but it'll take something extraordinary from Sevilla in the second leg to advance to their third quarter-final.

James Thorogood, Dortmund reporter

In the midst of a supposed identity crisis, Dortmund offered a timely reminder of exactly what they're capable of in a much improved performance. Haaland led the charge as he added to his record-breaking goal tally and, though the second half underlined why uncertainty still surrounds this talented side, BVB successfully laid the foundations to reach the Champions League quarter finals for the first time since 2017 on 9 March.

Reaction

Erling Haaland and Luuk de Jong at the final whistleGetty Images

Erling Haaland, Dortmund striker: "I don't know if you can say it's down to motivation or passion or whatever, but we were more online today. It was good. It was not good to let in two goals, but it is good to score three away goals and take them with us. We had a good plan. Edin [Terzić] has been good and I've been talking a lot with him. He said today would be my game and that I would get my chances and I did, so it was an important win."

Marco Reus, Dortmund captain: "It feels very good. The first half, outside of the early goal, went exactly as we had planned. We sat a little deeper than normal but were very compact. We won the ball well, got it forward into dangerous positions and took the lead. The first half was very good. We were too passive in the second and it got harder as the night wore on, so we're delighted to have won."

Luuk de Jong, Sevilla forward: "We weren't ourselves in the first half. At this level you know your opponents will score when you make mistakes. In the second half we did much better and [played] with a good rhythm and a lot of crosses. I think it's important we scored the second goal at the end. We just missed a third goal but I think anything is possible in the second leg."

Key stats

Erling Haaland wheels away after making it 3-1Borussia Dortmund/Getty Images

• Haaland has now scored 18 goals in 13 UEFA Champions League appearances, and 22 in 19 UEFA club competition matches.

• Only Kylian Mbappé, with 19, had scored more goals in the competition before his 21st birthday than Haaland.

• Dortmund have won the away leg of a round of 16 tie for the first time since 2013/14.

Line-ups

Sevilla: Bounou; Navas, Koundé, Carlos, Escudero; Jordán (Óscar Rodríguez 72), Fernando, Rakitić (Gudelj 46); Suso (De Jong 60), En-Nesyri (Munir 60), Gómez (Torres 60)

Dortmund: Hitz; Morey, Akanji, Hummels, Guerreiro (Passlack 76); Dahoud (Meunier 89), Can, Bellingham; Reus (Brandt 80), Sancho; Haaland

What's next?*

Both teams have four scheduled domestic fixtures prior to the second leg in Dortmund on Tuesday 9 March.

Erling Haaland scores Dortmund's third goalGetty Images

Sevilla
22/2: Osasuna (a)
27/2: Barcelona (h)
03/3: Barcelona (a), Copa del Rey
07/3: Elche (a)

Dortmund
20/2: Schalke (a)
27/2: Arminia (h)
02/3: Mönchengladbach (a), German Cup
06/3: Bayern (a)

*League fixtures unless otherwise stated