Borussia Dortmund forward Erling Haaland scored twice and teenager Giovanni Reyna added another as they cruised past Borussia Moenchengladbach 3-0 in their season opener yesterday.
The 20-year-old Haaland scored a 54th minute penalty, awarded for a foul on Reyna, and bagged another with a sensationally quick counter-attack and a Jadon Sancho assist as Dortmund utilised their fearsome youthful attacking weapons.
Reyna opened the scoring, after combining perfectly with his fellow 17-year-old Jude Bellingham in the 35th minute. His first league goal made him Reyna the second youngest American to score in the league after Christian Pulisic.
The hosts, playing in front of a crowd limited to 9,300 fans in their 80,000-capacity stadium due to Covid-19 restrictions, also hit the crossbar with a Sancho header.


Hertha Berlin floor Bremen
After holders Bayern Munich kicked-off the new Bundesliga season with a record 8-0 thrashing of Schalke on Friday, Hertha Berlin’s new-signing Jhon Cordoba scored on his debut in a 4-1 away romp at Werder Bremen yesterday as the ambitious capital city club threw down an early marker.
In front of 8,500 in Bremen, Hertha defender Peter Pekarik and Belgian-born winger Dodi Lukebakio scored quick-fire goals at the end of the first half to leave Werder 2-0 down at the break and the hosts were whistled off the pitch by their own fans.
Bremen only just avoided relegation last season and their defensive woes continue.
“The whistles were justified if you are behind at home at half time. That’s the fans’ right. We all know we are in a very delicate position,” Bremen coach Florian Kohfeldt said.
Colombia striker Cordoba, signed from Cologne in mid-week, came on to start the move which Brazil Under-23 forward Matheus Cunha finished as Hertha went 3-0 up with an hour gone.
Davie Selke scored Bremen’s second-half consolation goal before Cordoba capped his debut by tucking home Hertha’s fourth goal on 90 minutes.
“We wanted to give the right reply after our German Cup defeat,” said Hertha coach Bruno Labbadia, referring to their 5-4 cup loss at second division Braunschweig last weekend.
“We will get plenty of joy from watching Jhon Cordoba.”
Cologne’s plans to welcome back fans were scuppered by the local health officials before their 3-2 defeat to Hoffenheim.
In front of empty terraces in Cologne, Andrej Kramaric scored a hat-trick for Hoffenheim.
The Croatia striker put the visitors ahead after three minutes following a mix up in defence, netted a penalty and smashed home the winning goal in added time after Cologne had launched a late fight back. 
In the capital, playmaker Michael Gregoritsch and winger Andre Hahn scored late goals as Augsburg beat hosts Union Berlin in front of 4,600 fans.
Newly-promoted Arminia Bielefeld earned a point with a 1-1 draw at Eintracht Frankfurt on their return to the top flight in front of 6,500.
Stuttgart, who also came up, gave Freiburg a scare with late goals by Sasa Kalajdzic and Silas Wamangituka as they fought back in a 3-2 defeat in front of 8,000.

RESULTS 

* Eintracht Frankfurt 1 (Silva 62) Arminia Bielefeld 1 (Soukou 51) 
*Union Berlin 1 (Buelter 75) Augsburg 3 (Vargas 41, Gregoritsch 82, Hahn 89)
* Cologne 2 (Andersson 22, Drexler 86) Hoffenheim 3 (Kramaric 4, 45+3-pen, 90+2)
* Werder Bremen 1 (Selke 69) Hertha Berlin 4 (Pekarik 42, Lukebakio 45+2, Cunha 63, Cordoba 90)
*Stuttgart 2 (Kalajdzic 71, Wamangituka 81) Freiburg 3 (Petersen 8, Sallai 26, Grifo 48)
*Borussia Dortmund 3 (Reyna 35, Haaland 54-pen, 78) Borussia Moenchengladbach 0
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