Erling Haaland bags a brace as Dortmund score four in Jadon Sancho’s absence
Borussia Dortmund shrugged off the absence of Jadon Sancho as they returned to winning ways in the Bundesliga with a 4-0 win over Freiburg.
The Manchester United transfer target was laid low by an infection and the home side went into the game on the back of successive defeats to Augsburg and Bayern Munich.
But Erling Haaland scored a brace either side of Emre Can’s 47th-minute strike, before Haaland turned provider to set up Felix Passlack to seal the win in added time in front of 11,500 socially-distanced spectators.
RB Leipzig moved to the top of the table as they also claimed a 4-0 win over Schalke, whose club-record run without a win was extended to 18 games.
A Can Bozdogan own goal opened Leipzig’s account before headers from Angelino and Willi Orban put the game out of reach of the visitors. Marcel Halstenberg completed the scoring from the penalty spot.
Eintracht Frankfurt came from behind to beat Hoffenheim 2-1, with second-half goals from Daichi Kamada and Bas Dost cancelling out Andrej Kramaric’s 18th minute opener.
Goals from Alassane Plea, Stefan Lainer and Lars Stindl gave Borussia Monchengladbach a comfortable 3-1 win at Koln, who replied late through Elvis Rexhbecaj.
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Leonardo Bittencourt grabbed the only goal as Werder Bremen beat Arminia Bielefeld 1-0, while Sasa Kalajdzic grabbed a point for Stuttgart in a 1-1 draw with Bayer Leverkusen, who led through Patrik Schick.
Luis Suarez cut a frustrated figure on his home debut as Atletico Madrid were forced to settle for their second consecutive goalless draw in LaLiga.
💛 @GerardMoreno9 💛— Villarreal CF English (@Eng_Villarreal) October 3, 2020
Following their midweek draw with Huesca, Atletico were shut out again by in-form Villarreal, whose captain Mario Gaspar missed two good chances to increase the home side’s misery.
Real Betis bounced back from two straight defeats in style with a 2-0 win at Valencia that moved them to the top of the table.
Goals from Sergio Canales and Cristian Tello wrapped up victory for the visitors and provided the perfect response to their 3-0 midweek defeat at Getafe.
The goalscorers 💚💚 https://t.co/sQZg4YMnul— Real Betis Balompié (@RealBetis_en) October 3, 2020
Mikel Oyarzabal’s 28th-minute penalty sent Real Sociedad on their way to a 3-0 win over Getafe, with late efforts from Mikel Merino and Portu handing the visitors their first league loss of the season.
A last-minute header from Kevin Rodrigues gave 10-man Eibar a 2-1 win at Real Sociedad, despite the 73rd-minute dismissal of Papakouli Diop, while Elche and Huesca fought out a goalless draw.
Roma finally got their season up and running in Serie A as a Pedro wonder-strike gave them their first points with a 1-0 win at Udinese.
🥰 @_Pedro17_#ASRoma#UdineseRomapic.twitter.com/v71gWHyqkD— AS Roma English (@ASRomaEN) October 3, 2020
Former Chelsea man Pedro let fly from outside the box in the 55th minute but the visitors were forced to soak up a lot of pressure and Stefano Okaka missed a glorious chance to grab an equaliser.
Also in Serie A, a Francesco Caputo double and further goals from Domenico Berardi and Manuel Locatelli gave Sassuolo a 4-1 home win over Crotone.
In Ligue 1, goals from Gael Kakuta and Florian Sotoca gave Lens a 2-0 win over St Etienne, who had Timothee Kolodziejczak sent off in the 14th minute and were reduced to nine men just after the hour when Wahbi Khazri was also dismissed.
Nice were made to work hard for a 2-1 win over Nantes, who played with 10 men for 87 minutes following the early dismissal of Andrei Girotti.
Dante opened the scoring for the home side but Imran Louza equalised from the penalty spot for Nantes before Khephren Thuram’s 62nd-minute effort made the difference.