Shinji Kagawa led Borussia Dortmund to a 6-1 win at Cologne to extend his side’s unbeaten run to 21 games and restore their five-point lead in the Bundesliga on Sunday.
Kagawa scored two goals and helped set up two more as Dortmund delivered a devastating second-half performance to leave Cologne one point above the relegation zone.
“We lost our heads,” Cologne coach Stale Solbakken said. “I’ve no explanation for it.”
Dortmund’s win also issues a statement of intent after Bayern Munich had cut the gap at the top of the table to two points on Saturday. There are seven games remaining in the title race.
Cologne took the lead in the 13th minute when Martin Lanig sent in a long cross for Milivoje Novakovic to head beyond Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller.
Lukasz Piszczek equalized 13 minutes later when he rose unopposed to meet Marcel Schmelzer’s free-kick with a glancing header.
Lukas Podolski might have scored in the 38th minute when he found himself alone in front of Weidenfeller, but the Dortmund defense managed to scramble back in time.
Sven Bender had a goal ruled out for offside in the 41st minute as Dortmund began to turn the screw.
Kagawa fired the visitors in front two minutes into the second half with a superb volley from a narrow angle in off the underside of the crossbar.
Wonderful play from Kagawa helped create Dortmund’s third in the 52nd minute when the Japan international midfielder dragged the ball back for Jakub Blaszczykowski to play across goal, leaving Robert Lewandowski and Grosskreutz the simple task of deciding who should score. Lewandowski tapped it in for his 17th goal of the season.
Ilkay Guendogan played a one-two with Kagawa to score Dortmund’s fourth in the 79th minute, before Piszczek crossed for Kagawa’s 11th goal of the season a minute later.
Dortmund coach Juergen Klopp took the Japan star off immediately afterwards, but there was no letup for the home side, with Ivan Perisic adding another goal in the 84th minute.
Earlier, Cacau earned VfB Stuttgart a lucky 1-0 win over Nuremberg to move his side up to seventh, likely the last Europa League qualification place.
Cacau scored out of nothing in the 78th minute when the Brazil-born Germany striker took Martin Harnik’s return pass, before slotting coolly inside the left post.
Nuremberg had missed a host of chances to score and earned 14 corners compared with four for Stuttgart.
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