Bundesliga: Haaland scores on return to keep Dortmund on Bayern’s heels

Borussia Dortmund top striker Erling Haaland scored on his comeback with a second-half volley as his team came from a goal down to beat VfL Wolfsburg 3-1 on Saturday and stay a point behind leaders Bayern Munich.

The Norwegian striker scored in the 81st minute after coming on as a second-half substitute following his recovery from a hip flexor muscle injury that had sidelined him since mid-October.

With their sixth win in the last seven league matches, Dortmund moved up to 30 points, one behind Bayern, who edged past Arminia Bielefeld 1-0.

The Bundesliga’s top two teams face each other next weekend.

“A lot has happened in the past few days. But we played a good game and the result stands above everything else,” Dortmund’s Julian Brandt said.

Dortmund had crashed out of the Champions League on Wednesday with a 3-1 loss to Sporting Lisbon.

“We are extremely happy. Now we have a good full week to prepare for Bayern and we will go into that game with a lot of confidence.”

The Wolves took a second-minute lead through Wout Weghorst who headed in at the near post to complete a textbook break that had left the Dortmund backline exposed.

The Ruhr valley club levelled with an Emre Can penalty in the 35th after captain Marco Reus was brought down in the box by Wolfsburg’s Maxence Lacroix.

Donyell Malen put them in front by rifling in from a Reus pass to score for the third consecutive game in all competitions.

There was more good news for the visitors, with Haaland making a second-half substitute appearance and looking as sharp as ever ahead of the big game against the Bavarians next week.

He needed only eight minutes on the pitch to bag his 10th league goal in seven appearances, volleying in from close range to become the youngest ever player to reach 50 Bundesliga goals at 21 years and 128 days.