Departing Haaland helps Dortmund to victory
Borussia Dortmund bade farewell to several players on an emotional day at Signal Iduna Park, with Erling Haaland signing off in style.
Haaland is moving to Manchester City ahead of the 2022-2023 season, with that move confirmed this week.
The 21-year-old, who joined Dortmund from Salzburg in 2019-2020, was presented with a wreath prior to kick-off on Saturday, as Dortmund faced Hertha Berlin in its final Bundesliga game of the season.
He was not the only player given an ovation before the match, with Axel Witsel and Dan-Axel Zagadou, who are leaving the club after the expiration of their contracts, and departing loanees Marin Pongracic and Reinier Jesus also paraded on the pitch, along with Marcel Schmelzer, who has retired.
Long-time sporting director Michael Zorc is also retiring, and was given a huge send-off by the Dortmund crowd.
The enthusiasm in the stands was not initially matched on the pitch, as relegation-threatened Hertha took an 18th-minute lead through Ishak Belfodil's penalty.
However, Haaland got his farewell goal with 22 minutes of normal time remaining, coolly slamming in an 86th Dortmund strike from the spot, in what was his 89th appearance for the club.
Zagadou and Witsel were both subbed off with the game winding down and, fittingly, it was the latter's replacement who netted Dortmund's winner.
Marco Rose insisted Dortmund would "not stop playing football" in the wake of Haaland's departure and 17-year-old Youssoufa Moukoko showed the future is bright as he converted from Jude Bellingham's sublime pass.
Haaland was able to enjoy a standing ovation as he made way, with Dortmund's 2-1 victory also ensuring Hertha will be in the relegation play-off.
Dortmund's place in second was already sealed, but below it, Freiburg's attempt to get into the UEFA Champions League fell just short as it lost 2-1 to Bayer Leverkusen, which finished third, while RB Leipzig finished fourth.
Freiburg still has the DFB-Pokal final against Leipzig to look forward to but ultimately slipped down to sixth, with Taiwo Awoniyi's late penalty sending Union Berlin into fifth with a 3-2 win over VfL Bochum.
