In-form Erling Haaland scored twice as Borussia Dortmund surged to the top of their UEFA Champions League Group F with a comfortable 3-0 victory over hosts Club Brugge on Wednesday.
Borussia Dortmund scored all of their goals inside the first 32 minutes as they overwhelmed their hosts with some incisive attacking play.
Belgian international Thorgan Hazard gave the German side the lead in the 14th minute, before Haaland scored twice.
Borussia Dortmund top the table midway through the pool stage with six points from three matches, one ahead of second-placed Lazio.
The Italian side were held 1-1 at Zenit St Petersburg earlier on Wednesday.
Club Brugge are third with four points.
Haaland missed the weekend Bundesliga victory at Arminia Bielefeld with a knee injury.
But he showed no ill-effects as all his predatory instincts were on display to take his goals tally at Borussia Dortmund to 26 in 28 games since he joined the club in January.
The visitors looked the more dangerous side from the start.
They secured a deserved opener when Club Brugge goalkeeper Simon Mignolet could only palm a Thomas Delaney cross into the path of Hazard.
Mignolet had a chance to redeem himself but let the resulting shot burst through his hands.
Borussia Dortmund added to their tally four minutes later as Mignolet could only parry Haaland’s close-range header and the striker turned in the rebound.
The Bundesliga side kept pressing forward and Haaland soon bagged his brace.
This was when former Club Brugge right-back Thomas Meunier raced in behind the home defence.
He laid the ball off for a tap-in by Haaland and a fourth goal in his three UEFA Champions League games this season.
Borussia Dortmund coach Lucien Favre will be pleased with the comfortable manner of the win as they prepare for a clash with domestic title rivals Bayern Munich on Saturday.(Reuters/NAN)