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Haaland scores twice as Dortmund survives Union Berlin fightback

BERLIN (AP) — Erling Haaland scored twice as Borussia Dortmund emerged with a hard-fought 4-2 win over Union Berlin in the Bundesliga on Sunday.
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BERLIN (AP) — Erling Haaland scored twice as Borussia Dortmund emerged with a hard-fought 4-2 win over Union Berlin in the Bundesliga on Sunday.

The 21-year-old Norwegian grabbed Dortmund’s second goal in the 24th minute and secured the result in the 83rd just after Union scored to set up what looked like a nervy finale.

The visitors made a good start in Dortmund, where Taiwo Awoniyi had a first-minute goal ruled out for offside.

There was nothing Union could do about Raphaël Guerreiro’s opening goal in the 10th, when the Portugal defender let fly with a spectacular volley over goalkeeper Andreas Luthe and inside the far corner.

Thomas Meunier set up Dortmund’s second as Haaland beat two Union defenders to reach the Belgian’s cross. It got worse for Union early in the second half with an own-goal from captain Marvin Friedrich, who was trying to cut out Marco Reus’ cross in the 52nd.

Max Kruse pulled one back with a penalty in the 58th after a foul from Axel Witsel on Kevin Behrens, who had just come on for Union.

Dortmund’s intensity had dropped and Andreas Voglsammer — another substitute — rewarded Union’s efforts with a header from a corner in the 81st.

However, Haaland sealed the win two minutes later, stretching to lift the ball beyond Luthe and inside the far post.

It was Haaland’s 11th goal from seven games across all competitions for Dortmund this season.

WIRTZ SHINES FOR LEVERKUSEN

Florian Wirtz led 10-man Bayer Leverkusen to a 3-1 win at Stuttgart, dealing American coach Pellegrino Matarazzo’s team its third loss in five Bundesliga games this season.

The 18-year-old Wirtz set up Leverkusen’s second goal in the 19th minute and scored the third to give the visitors their third win of the season.

Robert Andrich was the central figure for Leverkusen in the first half – for mixed reasons.

Andrich scored the opening goal — the first since his summer switch from Union — in the second minute, but was sent off with the team leading 2-0 in the 30th. Andrich was initially shown a yellow card for his studs-up lunge at Tanguy Coulibaly’s knee but a VAR intervention switched it to red. Coulibaly was fortunate to be able to continue.

Wirtz had set up Patrik Schick for Leverkusen’s second goal and the visitors looked like scoring more as they maintained their grip on the game until Andrich’s dismissal.

Orel Mangala equalized in the 38th, finishing off the rebound after Lukáš Hrádecký brilliantly saved Konstantinos Mavropanos’ header from a free kick.

Halftime provided a welcome break for Leverkusen.

Leverkusen’s Kerem Demirbay was involved in a midfield scrap for the ball, which fell to Wirtz, who surged forward and fired inside the far corner in the 70th.

This time, Stuttgart had no response.

Eintracht Frankfurt is at Wolfsburg later Sunday.

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Ciarán Fahey on Twitter: https://twitter.com/cfaheyAP

Ciarán Fahey, The Associated Press