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Borussia Dortmund matchwinner Achraf Hakimi: "Two goals against Inter Milan a very nice birthday present!"
Some people celebrate turning 21 by going out for a meal with family, others, maybe even a drink. Borussia Dortmund's Achraf Hakimi? He painted the UEFA Champions League black and yellow with two goals in a quite remarkable comeback win against Inter Milan.
It had the makings of a night to forget. Dortmund fell behind inside five minutes to a Lautaro Martinez goal, and trailed 2-0 at half-time after Matias Vecino got in on the act. BVB were staring defeat in the face - a potentially costly one at that - but this was Hakimi's party, and he was going to score if he wanted to.
In the 51st minute, the Real Madrid loanee applied the finishing touch to a well-worked Mario Götze pass. Julian Brandt lit the match with the equaliser in the 64th minute, and Hakimi blew out the candles and took the whole of the Inter team with him with his winning goal 13 minutes from normal time.
If his birthday celebrations were muted on 4 November, the belated blowout in front of 66,099 supporters at the Signal Iduna Park was well worth the wait. Never in their history had the 1996/97 winners won a Champions League game from two goals down.
"It's a very nice birthday present," Hakimi said afterwards. "The two goals, and the win for the team - I'm very happy!"
Hakimi has been here before. On Matchday 2, it was his brace that did for Slavia Prague and gave Dortmund their first win in Group F. He is now the club's top scorer in this season's competition, accounting for four of their five goals - despite being a full-back!
"I'm surprised that I'm Dortmund's top scorer in the Champions League," Hakimi told uefa.com. "I'm lucky to be here, and happy that I'm scoring goals now as well. I have worked hard in the past and glad I could help the team tonight. We said that we had to go full throttle after the break. Luckily things worked out for us."
Unsurprisingly, Hakimi was the toast of the Dortmund dressing room.
"Hakimi? Well, he was lucky again," Götze joked when asked about BVB's unlikely two-goal hero. "With his speed and skill, his runs from the deep, he's unpredictable. You could see that in Prague, and you could see it again tonight. He's a big asset for us."
Dortmund coach Lucien Favre continued the post-match salutations: "Hakimi was everywhere. He played right-back and he was outstanding. Hats off to him: he scored twice, but the others have been feeding him well, too."
Now it's the Dortmund players' turn to feed him a well-earned slice of birthday cake. But not too much - they'll need their effervescent full-back in tip-top condition for Saturday's trip to Bayern Munich in Der Klassiker...
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