BERLIN: Erling Braut Haaland weighed in with two goals and three assists as Borussia Dortmund threw down a marker on the first weekend of the Bundesliga season with a 5-2 thrashing of Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday.
Defending champions Bayern Munich, who are bidding for a tenth straight league title, kicked off the new season with a 1-1 draw at Moenchengladbach on Friday.
Dortmund host Bayern in the German Super Cup in three days’ time.
The 21-year-old Haaland has now netted 62 goals in 61 games for Dortmund and proved he can create chances just as well as finish them.
“We have to be careful not to praise him too much, but he is already a complete package,” Dortmund captain Marco Reus said of Haaland, who enthusiastically celebrated the victory in front of home fans.
Haaland also claimed a hat-trick in the German Cup last week, giving him a tally of five goals and three assists after just two games this season.
“Erling is an unbelievable team player, he showed that with his assists and goals,” said Dortmund’s new coach Marco Rose.
When Dortmund attacked early on, Haaland drew the defense and squared to Reus, who scored his 100th Bundesliga goal on 23 minutes.
However, pressure by new Frankfurt signing Rafael Santos Borre saw Dortmund defender Felix Passlack put the ball into his own net four minutes later.
Haaland helped restore the lead on 32 minutes, releasing Thorgan Hazard, whose shot clipped the boot of Frankfurt’s goalkeeper Kevin Trapp on its way into the net.
Just over two minutes later, Haaland broke free of the defense and drilled his shot past Trapp to make it 3-1.
It could have been 4-1 at half-time, but Reus had a second goal ruled out as replays showed the ball went dead in the build-up.
Frankfurt’s new coach Oliver Glasner responded by making three changes, including giving a Bundesliga debut for new Norway signing Jens Petter Hauge, who scored Frankfurt’s late second goal.
However, there was only one Norwegian star in Dortmund as Haaland set up Giovanni Reyna to score the hosts’ fourth goal on 58 minutes.
Haaland showed his speed and strength to round off a move from the halfway line with a clinical finish for his second goal with 20 minutes left.
Dortmund were caught napping when Hauge got in behind the defense and tapped home Frankfurt’s second goal five minutes before the whistle.
Only a diving Trapp save denied Haaland a hat-trick in added time.
Earlier, VfB Stuttgart romped to a 5-1 thrashing of promoted Greuther Fuerth as defender Marc-Oliver Kempf netted twice.
Japan midfielder Wataru Endo opened the scoring after half an hour amid sweltering temperatures before Philipp Klement added Stuttgart’s second on 36 minutes.
After the break, Stuttgart winger Borna Sosa claimed three assists from two superb crosses and a pin-point accurate corner as Kempf scored either side of a Hamadi Al Ghaddioui header.
The win came at a cost, however, as Stuttgart had 17-year-old Dutch striker Mohamed Sankoh stretchered off with a serious Knee injury in the second half.
“Sankoh’s injury dampened the mood a little — we hope he gets back on his feet quickly. It will take around six months,” confirmed Stuttgart coach Pellegrino Matarazzo.
The top flight’s other new club Bochum also made a losing start, going down 1-0 at Wolfsburg, whose striker Wout Weghorst scored the first-half winner.
Hoffenheim enjoyed a 4-0 romp at Augsburg.
Forwards Jacob Bruun Larsen and Sargis Adamyan put Hoffenheim 2-0 up before French teenager Georginio Rutter came on to grab the third, and then set up Sebastian Rudy for the fourth.
Union Berlin started their season with a 1-1 draw at home to Bayer Leverkusen.
Nigeria striker Taiwo Awoniyi put Union ahead with seven minutes played only for Leverkusen winger Moussa Diaby to equalize five minutes later.