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UPDATE 1-Soccer-Dortmund overcome Haaland absence to draw with Lazio and reach last 16

03 Dec 2020 / 06:14 H.

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    DORTMUND, Germany, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Borussia Dortmund overcame the absence of injured top scorer Erling Haaland to draw 1-1 with Lazio in Champions League Group F on Wednesday and advance to the knockout stages with a game to spare.

    The 20-year-old Haaland, who has scored 16 goals in 12 Champions League appearances, was surprisingly not in Dortmund's starting lineup and his coach Lucien Favre said a muscle injury would sideline the Norwegian until January.

    It was Lazio who had the better chances in the first half but the hosts, who clearly missed Haaland's scoring instinct, struck against the run of play a minute before the break.

    The Germans scored with their first real chance, Raphael Guerreiro prodding in after a quick passing move split open the Italian defence.

    Lazio's Ciro Immobile, playing against his former club, levelled with a 67th-minute penalty and the Italians then forced Dortmund keeper Roman Buerki to make two outstanding saves to send his team through.

    Buerki palmed Immobile's powerful low drive wide in the 87th and he pushed Andreas Pereira's free kick deep in stoppage time over the bar.

    There was more bad news on the injury front for Dortmund, already missing injured Emre Can and Thomas Meunier, with centre back Mats Hummels helped off the pitch late in the game due to an ankle injury.

    Dortmund are on 10 points with second-placed Lazio on nine and needing at least a point in their final game against Club Brugge, who have seven after beating last-placed Zenit St Petersburg 3-0.

    (Reporting by Karolos Grohmann, editing by Ed Osmond)

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