Erling Braut Haaland solidified himself as one of, if not, European football's biggest discovery of the season on Saturday as he smashed in a hat-trick on his debut for Borussia Dortmund.

Due to Paco Alcacer's injuries and inconsistent form, Dortmund have operated with either Julian Brandt, Mario Gotze or captain Marco Reus as a false number nine for much of the campaign.

It was the latter who lined up in that role for the trip to Augsburg, but BVB manager Lucien Favre called upon Haaland in the 56th-minute with his side 3-1 down.

The Norwegian sensation produced three clinical strikes within a crazy 20-minute period to fire Dortmund to a 5-3 win and move level on points with champions Bayern Munich.

Haaland deservedly grabbed the headlines after the match for his incredible impact, however people in Germany may not consider his three-goal cameo to be a "proper" hat-trick.

Haaland's 2019-20 season so far

Haaland got people talking earlier this season with his exploits in the Champions League for Red Bull Salzburg, where he scored eight times in six group matches.

The 19-year-old recorded a whopping 28 goals in 22 matches for the Austrian club this term before signing a four-and-a-half year contract to join Dortmund for just £17.1 million.

Haaland is already Dortmund's joint fifth-highest scorer in the Bundesliga this season and he was pleased following his stunning debut performance.

The striker said, via BBC: "I'm at a fantastic club with great team-mates and good people around me. I came here to score goals and it was a good debut for me."

What is a "proper" hat-trick in Germany?

Despite his amazing debut, German football expert Raphael Honigstein insists that some people in Germany won't even view Haaland's hat-trick as a "proper" hat-trick.

After saying it's now impossible for Favre to keep Haaland on the bench, Honigstein told BBC Radio 5 Live: "In Germany, for some reason, we don't consider this a proper hat-trick.

"It needs to be in one half, but also, nobody scoring in between. We are so German we don't consider it a hat-trick. Haaland doesn't care. I saw him going off with the match ball."

The journalist continued: "He'll consider it a hat-trick but somebody has to then tell him 'actually, you know what, it's not officially a hat-trick'. I don't think it's an issue for him to worry about."

All of his goals came in the same half, but because Jadon Sancho scored between Haaland's first and second goals, it's apparently not an "official" hat-trick.

Dortmund labelled Haaland a "hat-trick hero" but it's very interesting to think that some people in the country he's playing in won't recognise him scoring a hat-trick on his Dortmund debut.