The Malta Independent on Sunday
Bayern Munich routs Dortmund 6-0, puts one hand on Bundesliga title
German football
Bayern Munich all but secured its unprecedented sixth consecutive Bundesliga title after routing Borussia Dortmund 6-0 yesterday.
Bayern can wrap up the title and extend its league titles record with a win at Bavarian rival Augsburg next Saturday.
Robert Lewandowski opened the scoring and began his hat trick against his former side in the fifth minute, after Thomas Mueller was left in plenty of space to play him through. Though the Poland striker looked offside, there was no intervention from the video referee.
Franck Ribery's goal four minutes later was ruled out through VAR, after James Rodriguez got a touch to the ball. Again, it was a marginal call.
But Bayern was tearing Dortmund apart and James scored their second in the 14th, again with a suspicion of offside.
Dortmund midfielder Gonzalo Castro then lost the ball to James, who surged forward and floated in a perfect cross for Thomas Mueller to score.
Peter Stoeger took off the unfortunate Castro for Julian Weigl shortly afterward but Bayern's dominance continued regardless.
Lewandowski's boot-tip provided the fourth after good work from Ribery, who followed up two minutes later with Bayern's fifth before the break, again set up by James.
The halftime scoreline was in no way flattering to Bayern. Manuel Akanji provided the only highlight for Dortmund with a last-ditch tackle on the otherwise-free Lewandowski, while Andre Schuerrle epitomized the visitors' game when his attempted pass went straight out of play.
Mario Goetze struck the post with Dortmund's first real chance midway through the second half, but by then Bayern was already thinking of Tuesday's Champions League quarterfinal first leg at Sevilla.
Jupp Heynckes took off the excellent James and Ribery to ovations with over 20 minutes remaining.
Joshua Kimmich, who went on for David Alaba at the break, crossed for Lewandowski to complete his hat trick late, improving his league-leading tally to 26.
Earlier second-place Schalke beat Freiburg 2-0 to put Bayern Munich's Bundesliga title celebrations on hold for at least another week.
Daniel Caligiuri scored a disputed penalty to break the deadlock with 25 minutes remaining. Caligiuri got Schalke's winner against his former side in their previous game.
Referee Tobias Stieler gave the spot kick when Breel Embolo went down under Manuel Gulde's challenge.
Stieler sent off captain Nils Petersen with two yellow cards in quick succession, seemingly for something the player said. Freiburg coach Christian Streich had to be restrained from remonstrating with Stieler as he too was sent off.
Streich could only watch from the stands as Guido Burgstaller made it 2-0. LEIPZIG HOLDS ON Hannover substitute Niclas Fuellkrug thought he'd scored twice in three minutes to claw back a two-goal deficit against visiting Leipzig.
But his second goal was ruled out for offside after the video referee intervened.
Leipzig held on to win 3-2 and move fourth — the last qualification place for the Champions League — while Hannover slipped to its fifth consecutive loss.
Bayer Leverkusen's 0-0 draw at home to Augsburg allowed Leipzig to move ahead by a point with six games remaining. NO CHANGE AT BOTTOM Both Hamburger SV and Cologne needed wins to ease their relegation worries. Hamburg drew 1-1 at Stuttgart and Cologne was routed 6-0 at Hoffenheim.
Daniel Ginczek canceled out Lewis Holtby's opener for Hamburg to leave the visiting side bottom.
Serge Gnabry, on loan from Bayern, scored two fine goals for Hoffenheim before Mark Uth made it far worse as Cologne fell apart.
Uth scored the third goal, set up Lukas Rupp for the fourth, claimed his second for 5-0 and set up Steven Zuber for Hoffenheim's sixth in an afternoon to forget for his hometown club.
Cologne remains five points from the lifeline of a playoff place, with rivals Mainz and Wolfsburg yet to play in this round.