Erling Haaland continued his remarkable goalscoring form in the Champions League by netting in Borussia Dortmund’s 2-1 win over Besiktas on Wednesday night in Istanbul
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Erling Haaland continued his ridiculous goalscoring form in the Champions League as Borussia Dortmund beat Besiktas 2-1 on Wednesday evening.
Jude Bellingham was the star of the show for Dortmund, scoring the opener before setting up Haaland to make it 2-0 before half-time.
Bellingham chested down Thomas Meunier’s pass and rifled through goalkeeper Ersin Destanoglu’s legs to make it 1-0 after 20 minutes in Istanbul.
The 18-year-old midfielder dominated the first half and played a decisive role in the German side’s second goal, charging down the left wing to the byline before cutting it back for Haaland to tap in.
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Francisco Montero headed in Miralem Pjanic’s free-kick in injury-time to set up a nervy finish, but Dortmund hung on to win the Group C tie.
Haaland’s goal furthered his almost unbelievable record in the Champions League: it was his 21st strike in just his 17th appearance in the competition.
To underline his rapid start to life in Europe’s premier club competition, you can compare his record to two modern-day greats, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
By 17 appearances in the Champions League, Messi had scored six goals for Barcelona, while Ronaldo, who is now the competition’s record scorer with 135, was yet to get off the mark with Manchester United.
Unsurprisingly, Haaland, at 21, is the youngest player to reach 21 goals in the Champions League and he has also achieved the feat in 10 games fewer than any other player, with Ruud van Nistelrooy the next closest in 27 games.
The Norwegian was the competition’s top scorer in 2020/21, netting 10 goals, despite Dortmund being knocked out in the quarter-finals by Manchester City.
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He is not just on a hot streak in the Champions League either: he has now scored 66 goals in as many games for Dortmund across all competitions.
Haaland’s night could have been even better, too, had he taken all his chances against Besiktas.
The youngster blazed over an empty goal from close range in the first half before scoring and saw an attempt saved by Destanoglu in the second half.
Haaland was not the only player to make history for Dortmund on their opening night in the Champions League.
Bellingham also became the youngest player in the competition’s history to score in consecutive games.
The 18-year-old England international has enjoyed a meteoric rise recently and the manner of his breakthrough was underlined by the fact it was Kylian Mbappe’s record that Bellingham broke.
Bellingham’s goal on Wednesday came at the age of 18 years and 78 days, seven days faster than Mbappe, who was 18 years and 85 days old when he did it.
