New signing Erling Braut Haaland has climbed off the bench to score on his first attempt before grabbing a hat-trick as Borussia Dortmund fought back to win 5-3 at Augsburg in a German Bundesliga thriller.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Leaders RB Leipzig also came from behind to beat Union Berlin 3-1 at home in Saturday's late game, meaning fourth-placed Dortmund remain seven points behind after 18 games.
The Black and Yellows returned from their mid-season break with a performance to both annoy and thrill their fans, with 20 million euro ($A32 million) substitute Haaland netting three in just 20 minutes as they rallied from 3-1 down.
"It was a good debut, I'm happy," an understated Haaland told Sky in an ice-cool interview.
In other games, Cologne triumphed 3-1 over Wolfsburg, Eintracht Frankfurt won 2-1 at Hoffenheim and Freiburg beat Mainz 2-1 away. Werder Bremen sealed a key 1-0 win at dropzone rivals Fortuna Dusseldorf, leapfrogging the hosts into the relegation play-off spot.
Champions Bayern Munich, third and level on points with Dortmund, visit Hertha Berlin on Sunday when bottom side Paderborn host Bayer Leverkusen. Schalke beat second-placed Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-0 on Friday with Gladbach now five points adrift of Leipzig.
In Saturday's late match, Leipzig went behind after just 10 minutes when they sloppily gave the ball away in midfield and allowed Union to charge forward, Marius Buelter calmly netting for the promoted team.
Union fans protested against Leipzig's roots and Red Bull sponsor but were silenced early in the second half by a thumping Timo Werner strike from the edge of the box.
Shortly afterwards Marcel Sabitzer hooked in following a corner to complete the Leipzig turnaround.
Werner then added some gloss with another fine finish seven minutes from time, taking over from Bayern's Robert Lewandowski at the top of the Bundesliga scoring charts with 20.
Australian Associated Press
