BERLIN: Regular ice baths and light-filtering glasses keep Erling Braut Haaland alert as Norwegian seeks to inflict more anguish in the Bundesliga in Augsburg on Saturday with Borussia Dortmund.
The 20-year-old made German league history in Bavaria in January thanks to the first player to score a hat-trick on the bench in his Augsburg debut.
After losing to Dortmund 3-1, Haaland only 20 minutes to complete his hat-trick and seal a 5-3 victory, underlining the Norwegian’s prestige as one of the top electric finalists in Europe.
He scored two goals last Saturday in the 3-0 home win over Borussia Moenchengladbach in the first weekend of 2020/21, while Bayern Munich starter, who is absent from Hoffenheim on Sunday, scored an 8-0 defeat Schalke.
Haaland’s double has left him 18 in 20 games for Dortmund since leaving Red Bull Salzburg in January.
After scoring a penalty against Gladbach, Haaland showed dazzling speed in the face of a counterattack unleashed through Jadon Sancho.
Haaland attributes it to the usual ice baths and special light-filtering lenses.
“I see this as a key to getting a little more power,” he told Dortmund’s Ruhr Nachrichten newspaper.
Transparent glasses of soft blue at night “help me sleep better and sleep better. “
“These are small major problems and percentage problems for each and every day” in Haaland’s quest to be “even better, more clinical, more uncompromising. “
Dortmund’s head coach Lucien Favre is expected to remove 17-year-olds Jude Bellingham and Giovanni Reyna, who inspired Gladbach.
Bayern have won all 14 league matches since February and Favre refuses to listen to Dortmund by preventing him from winning a ninth league title directly.
The two face off for the German Super Cup in Munich on Wednesday.
“Bayern is the most productive team in the world, it has so much quality and no one can see it’s the job,” Favre told journalists.
Also on Saturday, Czech forward Bayer Leverkusen Patrik Schick faces former RB Leipzig, where the 24-year-old was on loan last season before being sold through AS Roma.
Leipzig proved he can live without striker Timo Werner, who joined Chelsea after a 28-goal Bundesliga frenzy, in Sunday’s 3–1 win over Mainz.
Yussuf Poulsen and Malian midfielder Amadou Haidara scored the goal after midfielder Emil Forsberg traded a penalty
It will be nice to see how Mainz 05 will face VfB Stuttgart at home after his team went on strike last week in solidarity with Hungarian striker Adam Szalai, who has been told he doesn’t have much time at the club.
Stuttgart hopes Captain Gonzalo Castro can achieve his first league victory in Mainz since September 2005.
The Schalke and visitors to Werder Bremen have an urgent need for 3 issues on Saturday night after heavy defeats in the first weekend.
Head coach David Wagner is under great pressure after the beating at Bayern left Schalke with a win in his last 17 games.
Similarly, having drifted away from relegation slightly last season, Bremen manager Florian Kohfeldt is feeling the heat after losing 4-1 at home last weekend to Hertha Berlin.
OBSERVING: ALEXANDER SORLOTH
RB Leipzig acquired their Norwegian striker mid-week when Alexander Sorloth signed from Crystal Palace.
After suffering in a Palace team fighting for relegation, the 24-year-old was on loan last season at Turkish Trabzonspor, where he scored 33 goals in matches.
He made his Bundesliga debut at Leverkusen.
KEY STATISTICS
77: The average number of minutes It takes Haaland to score a goal in the Bundesliga.
48: the goals augsburg conceded against Dortmund, more than any Bundesliga club.
4: Bremen has won his last 4 away matches in Schalke.
Preparations
Saturday: Borussia Moenchengladbach vs Union Berlin, Bayer Leverkusen vs RB Leipzig, Mainz 05 vs VfB Stuttgart, Augsburg vs Borussia Dortmund, Arminia Bielefeld vs Cologne, Schalke 04 vs Werder Bremen
Sunday: Hoffenheim vs Bayern Munich, Freiburg vs Wolfsburg
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