Fortuna Dusseldorf vs Borussia Dortmund. German Bundesliga.
ESPRIT arena.
Report as Haaland pops up with late winner after Fortuna hit post twice late on
Saturday 13 June 2020 17:17, UK
Sub Erling Haaland scored in the fifth and final minute of stoppage time to give Borussia Dortmund a 1-0 victory over Fortuna Dusseldorf on Saturday to keep the Bundesliga title race going.
With Dortmund looking tepid throughout, Haaland popped up with a fine glancing header from Manuel Akanji's cross to break the hearts of lowly Fortuna, who had hit the post twice late on.
After an uneventful opening period, Raphael Guerreiro found the net midway through the second half with a fine volley, but VAR ruled the goal out as the ball had hit Portugal wing-back on the shoulder, technically the correct decision.
Fortuna could have easily won it; sub Steven Skrzybski struck the bottom of the post with a low effort from range in the closing stages, and then hit the woodwork again in stoppage time as the hosts countered.
But the result means Bayern Munich cannot secure the title this weekend, with Dortmund moving to within four points of Bayern before their evening game against Borussia Monchengladbach. Dusseldorf are in 16th, level on points with Bremen in 17th.
Dortmund knew a defeat here and a Bayern win over Borussia Monchengladbach at 5.30pm would hand Bayern another Bundesliga title, but there was not much sign of urgency in the first period.
The visitors were comfortable on the ball (63 per cent possession) but lacked bite in the final third, as Fortuna Dusseldorf sat deep and showed little intent to go forward.
The best chance of the opening period fell to Achraf Hakimi as Dortmund broke from defending a corner; Jadon Sancho found the full-back in acres, one on one with Florian Kastenmeier, but the goalkeeper blocked low.
The second half carried on in a similar fashion, before Haaland was introduced just after the hour mark, but Fortuna had the first clear opportunity as Roman Burki did superbly to tip away a Marcel Sobottka snapshot from 12 yards.
Immediately afterwards, Dortmund thought they had taken the lead as Haaland's shot on the turn fortuitously looped up into Guerreiro's path, and he did the rest by thrashing a volley into the far corner from 15 yards. However, after much deliberation, VAR ruled the goal out, the ball hitting Guerreiro on the shoulder as it looped up.
Fortuna could have won it late on as sub Skrzybski had a go from 25 yards out, beating Burki but not the foot of the post as Dortmund survived a rare attack from the hosts.
Skrzybski again came within inches in stoppage time, latching onto a simple long ball over Dortmund's defence, taking a touch, and clipping the outside of the post on the half volley from just outside the box.
But that man Haaland arrived late on with his 14th Dortmund goal, finding a yard on his marker to glance Akanji's left-wing delivery past Kastenmeier. Dortmund and Fortuna players alike looked flattened by exhaustion at full-time and Dortmund manager Lucien Favre even injured himself in celebrations after the winner.
Dortmund, so often the second-half entertainers since the return of the Bundesliga in May, were uninspiring throughout, but were true to form with their late winner, delaying Bayern's seemingly inevitable coronation.
Dortmund host Mainz in the Bundesliga on Wednesday at 7.30pm, while Fortuna Dusseldorf go to RB Leipzig at the same time.