Haaland, Meunier doubles help Dortmund crush Freiburg 5-1

Borussia Dortmund's Erling Haaland snapped a two-game goal drought to score twice while fullback Thomas Meunier added two more as their side hammered visiting Freiburg 5-1 on Friday to move within striking distance of leaders Bayern Munich.

Fullback Meunier powered home a header at the near post from a Julian Brandt corner after 14 minutes and doubled the lead in the 29th, nodding in another Brandt corner. He had only scored once before in the Bundesliga since joining in 2020.

Haaland then got in on the action, quickly peeling away from team mate Jude Bellingham to race into the box, latch onto a perfectly timed through ball from the England international and tap in Dortmund's third goal on the stroke of halftime.

The Norwegian bagged his second in the 75th -- his 55th goal in 56 Bundesliga matches -- after Ermedin Demirovic had pulled a goal back for the visitors just past the hour.

Haaland has now scored 78 goals in 77 matches in all competitions for the Ruhr valley club.

Mahmoud Dahoud capped a dominant Dortmund display with a powerful shot in the 86th.

Dortmund have 40 points in second place, three behind Bayern who visit Cologne on Saturday. Freiburg stay fourth on 30.

"Five goals sounds good. The first half was a top performance," said Dortmund coach Marco Rose. "In the second half we eased a bit off and allowed them to pull a goal back. But it was a deserved win. "We took a good step today and we have to keep at it. We have the quality to play good games. We have now won two games in a row, are three points off Bayern. But what's important is to be consistent so that we have a chance to bring the title to Dortmund."

The hosts, however, had Meunier and Emre Can taken off injured, with Rose saying it was not yet clear if they would be sidelined and for how long.

"It would be bad if Thomas would now be missing. He twisted his ankle. He just scored two goals. With Emre we still have to see," he added.