Berlin/Xinhua/UNI: Erling Haaland's brace secured Borussia Dortmund a 2-1 victory over Paris Saint-Germain at the first leg in UEFA Champions League's round of the last 16.
Dortmund played powerful performance over 90 minutes still they had to wait until the second half before Haaland's brace smoothed the way for the win on home soil on Tuesday.
BVB assumed control from the start and came close through Jadon Sancho twice. The England international created the best chance on target with 27 minutes played when he forced PSG goalkeeper Keylor Navas to make a diving save.
Dortmund continued to make pressure forward but for all of that, they were unable to make the most of their chances as Haaland only hit the side netting in the 35th minute allowing the uninspired visitors from Paris to take a goalless draw into the half time.
After the restart, Paris Saint-Germain came out with their guns blazing as Kylian Mbappe and Neymar tested Dortmund custodian Yann Sommer in quick succession.
Just when the visitors established their rhythm, it was the hosts who opened the scoring in the 68th minute when Haaland blocked Raphael Guerreiro's strike on target before tapping home from very close range.
Dortmund's advantage did not last long as Thomas Tuchel's men restored parity only seven minutes later after Mbappe danced through Dortmund's defense and squared to Neymar, who made no mistake to poke home the equalizer out of the blue.
The hosts however had the last laugh as prolific new arrival Haaland collected a through ball from youngster Giovanni Reyna and hammered the 2-1 winner from the edge of the box into the roof of the net.
PSG pressed for the equalizer in the closing period but neither Neymar, who rattled the woodwork from inside the box, nor Thiago Silva, who headed wide following a corner from Neymar, were able to level the scores.
"My team staged overall a dominant performance. They played very well defensively as well as offensively," Dortmund head coach Lucien Favre said.
With the result, Borussia Dortmund will take a 2-1 advantage into the second leg at Paris on March 11.
(Image Credit: UEFA Champions League Twitter)
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