Borussia Dortmund winger Jadon Sancho said teammate Erling Braut Haaland "deserves everything that's coming his way" after the Norwegian striker became the fastest player to score 15 Champions League goals.
Haaland, 20, scored the first and third goals for Dortmund in a 3-0 win over Club Brugge on Tuesday as the Bundesliga club took a step closer to qualifying for the knockout stages.
Haaland's 18th-minute opener saw him reach 15 Champions League goals in fewer games than any other player in the competition's history. He hit the milestone in just 12 appearances, smashing the previous record of 19 games held by Ruud van Nistelrooy and Roberto Soldado.
"Erling is a fantastic player. He works hard on and off the pitch and he deserves everything that's coming his way," said Sancho, who provided the assist for Haaland's opener and scored Dortmund's second.
"I'm just happy that I can get my assists more easily because he's so clinical."
Haaland added another in the second half to take his tally to 16, as he and Dortmund annihilated Brugge to defend top spot in Group F and move within touching distance of qualification for the second round.
With two games to go, Lucien Favre's side are now five points clear of third place and a point ahead of second-placed Lazio, who beat Zenit Saint Petersburg 3-1 on Tuesday.
Dortmund were predictably dominant in the first half, and it took Haaland just 70 seconds to send a shot fizzing past the Brugge post. The Norwegian found the net on 18 minutes, placing a low shot past Simon Mignolet after Sancho set him up with an elegant through ball.
Sancho, who has faced criticism this season and was dropped to the bench for Dortmund's league win at Hertha Berlin last weekend, was in excellent form upon his return to the starting XI.
The 20-year-old Englishman doubled Dortmund's lead on the stroke of half-time, curling a free-kick into the top corner after compatriot Jude Bellingham was fouled on the edge of the box.
"I've been practising my free-kicks recently, so I'm happy it came off today," said Sancho. "I'm just happy I'm playing and that I have coaches who believe in me. It's been a hard situation for me recently, but it's all about how I come back."
Haaland put the game beyond reach on the hour mark, gratefully pouncing on an inadvertent assist from Brugge midfielder Ruud Vormer and sweeping the ball in from close range.
Dortmund, second in the Bundesliga table, return to league duties on Saturday when they welcome Koln to the Westfalenstadion.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
EA Sports FC 26
Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox Series X/S
Rating: 3/5
The alternatives
• Founded in 2014, Telr is a payment aggregator and gateway with an office in Silicon Oasis. It’s e-commerce entry plan costs Dh349 monthly (plus VAT). QR codes direct customers to an online payment page and merchants can generate payments through messaging apps.
• Business Bay’s Pallapay claims 40,000-plus active merchants who can invoice customers and receive payment by card. Fees range from 1.99 per cent plus Dh1 per transaction depending on payment method and location, such as online or via UAE mobile.
• Tap started in May 2013 in Kuwait, allowing Middle East businesses to bill, accept, receive and make payments online “easier, faster and smoother” via goSell and goCollect. It supports more than 10,000 merchants. Monthly fees range from US$65-100, plus card charges of 2.75-3.75 per cent and Dh1.2 per sale.
• 2checkout’s “all-in-one payment gateway and merchant account” accepts payments in 200-plus markets for 2.4-3.9 per cent, plus a Dh1.2-Dh1.8 currency conversion charge. The US provider processes online shop and mobile transactions and has 17,000-plus active digital commerce users.
• PayPal is probably the best-known online goods payment method - usually used for eBay purchases - but can be used to receive funds, providing everyone’s signed up. Costs from 2.9 per cent plus Dh1.2 per transaction.
Islamophobia definition
A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.
The Birkin bag is made by Hermès.
It is named after actress and singer Jane Birkin
Noone from Hermès will go on record to say how much a new Birkin costs, how long one would have to wait to get one, and how many bags are actually made each year.
The biog
First Job: Abu Dhabi Department of Petroleum in 1974
Current role: Chairperson of Al Maskari Holding since 2008
Career high: Regularly cited on Forbes list of 100 most powerful Arab Businesswomen
Achievement: Helped establish Al Maskari Medical Centre in 1969 in Abu Dhabi’s Western Region
Future plan: Will now concentrate on her charitable work
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Brief scoreline:
Wolves 3
Neves 28', Doherty 37', Jota 45' 2
Arsenal 1
Papastathopoulos 80'
How Sputnik V works
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
