Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund wrapped up a Champions League berth on Sunday, while Bayern Munich edged closer to one of their own.
Dortmund ensured a top-three finish is the minimum that awaits them at campaign’s end with a 3-0 win over visiting Freiburg, shortly after Bayern rode Mario Gomez’s hat-trick to a 5-1 thumping of second-placed Bayer Leverkusen.
Leverkusen’s heavy defeat allowed Dortmund to open up an eight-point lead at the top with four games remaining, while Bayern leapfrog Hannover into third place.
Dortmund imposed themselves on the contest early and took a deserved lead through Mario Gotze in the 23rd minute.
The Germany midfielder gleefully finished past Freiburg goalkeeper Oliver Baumann after Marcel Schmelzer played his way to the goal-line and pulled a pass back for his team-mate.
It only got more one-sided as Poland international Robert Lewandowski – who had earlier made a mess of two gilt-edged opportunities – pounced on Omer Toprak’s deflection, rounded Baumann and poked into the open net on 43 minutes.
Chances flew thick and fast in the second half as Freiburg searched for a goal, but it was Dortmund who would succeed once more as Kevin Grosskreutz made the most of a terrific squared ball by Gotze for a 3-0 result 12 minutes from time.
Elsewhere, Bayern gave Leverkusen manager Jupp Heynckes a good look at the talent that will be at his disposal next season with a classy 5-1 victory at the Allianz Arena.
Heynckes is set to take over from caretaker boss Andries Jonker at Bayern next term, but will see out the season in charge of Leverkusen.
And while Bayern’s win came at the expense of his current side, Heynckes will be gladdened that he will soon have the services of Gomez, who extended his goal tally to a league-leading 22 with a hat-trick inside 20 first-half minutes.
The early signs were ominous for Leverkusen when midfielder Simon Rolfes deflected Franck Ribery’s cross into his own net in the seventh minute to gift Bayern a 1-0 lead.
Frontman Gomez took over from there, knocking in Thomas Muller’s cross in the 28th minute and again in the 44th minute.
The Germany international then nabbed his hat-trick goal on a counter-attack in first-half injury time, blasting a low, angled strike that was simply too good for Leverkusen goalkeeper Rene Adler.
With four goals to their credit, Bayern had no need to press in the second half and seemed content to sit back until Leverkusen striker Eren Derdiyok smashed a cross into the roof of the net in the 62nd minute.
That prompted a brief flurry of activity from the hosts, who earned their fifth and final goal through Ribery after the France international played himself into the area on a one-two with Daniel van Buyten and clinically finished past Adler.
Sun 17 April, 2011
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