Bundesliga newcomers Bochum stun Dortmund in seven-goal thriller

Berlin, May 1 (IANS): Although Borussia Dortmund came from two goals down thanks to Erling Haaland’s brace, newcomers Bochum won the thriller 4-3 in Bundesliga with two late goals.

Bochum caught a fairy tale start at Dortmund on Saturday night and needed only three minutes to break the deadlock as Takuma Asano’s pinpoint cross into the box found Sebastian Polter, who nodded home from seven metres.

Dortmund had to swallow Bochum’s second goal only moments later as Asano set up for Gerrit Holtmann, whose left-footed hammer from the edge of the box beat BVB goalkeeper Marwin Hitz, Xinhua reports. The hosts needed some time to recover but restored parity within the half-hour mark as Haaland converted a handball penalty to halve the deficit before the Norway international tapped home another penalty from the spot.

Haaland wasn’t done with the scoring and stunned Bochum with his hat-trick in the 62nd minute when Marco Reus cutback pass allowed Haaland to turn the tides from close range.

Bochum remained unimpressed though and bounced back as well as joker Jurgen Locadia levelled the scores in the 81st minute before Milos Pantovic made it 4-3 after converting a handball penalty in the 86th minute to secure the first win at Dortmund since 1998.

Elsewhere, relentless Mainz upset Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich 3-1 on home soil.

Stuttgart snatched vital points in the relegation battle after securing a late 1-1 draw with Wolfsburg.

Cologne extended its winning run to four games and eye for a berth in Europe after seeing off Augsburg 4-1 by courtesy on Anthony Modeste’s brace.

Relegation-threatened Hertha Berlin gave away a narrow win as Joakim Nilsson’s 1-1 injury-time equalizer rescued Arminia Bielefeld a crucial point.

Freiburg edged Hoffenheim 4-3 in a see-saw match to move into the top four.