THREE-LLING WIN: Borussia Dortmund’s Jonas Hofmann (centre) celebrates after scoring against Bayern Munich during their German Bundesliga clash in Munich yesterday. Dortmund won 3-0. (Reuters)
Agencies/Munich
Bayern Munich crash to their biggest defeat under coach Pep Guardiola, 3-0 at home in a Bundesliga table-topper against Borussia Dortmund yesterday.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Marco Reus and Jonas Hofmann were on target for Dortmund. Munich had Rafinha sent off in stoppage time, and their Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer was substituted at halftime over a calf muscle stiffness, giving Lukas Raeder a top flight debut.
Munich have lost their Bundesliga magic since clinching the title prematurely with a record seven games to spare in late March, drawing once and losing their first two season games since then.
The team of Guardiola, who replaced Jupp Heynckes in summer, has 78 points, with Dortmund on 61 and three points ahead of their regional arch-rivals Schalke.
Dortmund’s win came four days after an unlucky Champions League exit against Real Madrid, now semi-final opponents of holders Munich, who advanced over Manchester United.
Munich and Dortmund can meet again in the German Cup final on May 17, provided they win midweek semi-finals against Kaiserslautern and Wolfsburg, respectively.
Elsewhere, VfL Wolfsburg continued their push for a place in next season’s Champions League after a thumping 4-1 win over Nuremburg saw them go fourth in the Bundesliga.
Wolfsburg coach Dieter Hecking saw his former club take the lead when Markus Feulner fired home for second-from-bottom Nuremberg on eight minutes. But Wolfsburg hit back with two goals in four minutes from Croatian pair Ivica Olic and Ivan Perisic.
First Olic slid home his 12th goal of the season from a Kevin de Bruyne cross, then the Belgian midfielder teed up Perisic to clip over Nuremburg keeper Raphael Schaefer after 22 minutes. Belgium Under-21 midfielder Junior Malanda drilled home with 21 minutes left before Olic set up Perisic to condemn Nuremburg to their seventh defeat in eight matches.
The win saw Wolfsburg leapfrog Leverkusen, and Borussia Moenchengladbach, who were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Vfb Stuttgart.
The guests started the day outside the relegation zone on goal difference but they looked set for a valuable victory when Daniel Didavi slammed home early on when Timo Werner scuffed a shot into his path. But Juan Arango’s header with just a minute remaining salvaged a point for Moenchengladbach.
Stuttgart are now one point clear of third-from-bottom Hamburg, who lost 2-1 at Hanover. In the other meeting of two relegation candidates, Freiburg defeated bottom club Eintracht Braunschweig 2-0.
