Champions League semi-finalists Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund registered huge wins, hitting 10 goals between them as they returned to Bundesliga duty in sensational style on Saturday.
Having drawn Barcelona in the semi-finals of the Champions League, German champions Bayern crushed Nuremberg 4-0 at Munich’s Allianz Arena, despite resting nine of the team which won 2-0 at Juventus on Wednesday.
“The game showed my players have a very professional attitude at this stage of the season,” Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes said. “It’s good that I was able to make nine changes, we still have a lot of games ahead of us.”
Photo: Reuters
Dortmund hammered bottom side SpVgg Greuther Furth 6-1, with Jose Mourinho, coach of their Champions League semi-final opponents Real Madrid, watching in Franconia.
Having already been confirmed Bundesliga champions the week before, Bayern extended their unbeaten run in the Bundesliga to 20 matches since losing to Bayer 04 Leverkusen in October last year — their only league defeat this season.
Nuremberg traveled to Munich unbeaten in their previous nine games and chasing their first win at Bayern in 21 years, but it took just five minutes to dismiss any notion of an upset.
Even without nine first-choice players, Bayern were 3-0 up inside 25 minutes.
Jerome Boateng volleyed home the first with just five minutes gone, before the centerback provided the final pass for Mario Gomez to make it 2-0 on 17 minutes.
Brazil defender Rafinha, in at rightback for Philipp Lahm, scored the third on 24 minutes with France international winger Franck Ribery captaining the team for the first time since he joined back in 2007.
Nuremberg’s luck did not improve after the break when Belgium midfielder Timmy Simons’ penalty was saved by stand-in Bayern goalkeeper Tom Starke, albeit with his head when the ball went through his gloves.
Swiss winger Xherdan Shaqiri grabbed Bayern’s fourth on 56 minutes after a final pass from Ribery, while coach Jupp Heynckes gave a league debut to 17-year-old Danish midfielder Pierre Hojbjerg for the final 20 minutes.
The win leaves Bayern on 78 points, 20 clear of second-placed Dortmund, with five games left and just three short of Dortmund’s record of 81 points in a Bundesliga season, set last year.
After their dramatic 3-2 Champions League win over Malaga last week, Dortmund ran riot at Furth, with both Germany midfielders Ilkay Gundogan and Mario Goetze scoring twice early as they went 5-0 ahead at halftime.
Furth are just two matches short of becoming the first Bundesliga team to lose all of their home matches in a season.
The hosts pulled a goal back with 20 minutes left, but Robert Lewandowski netted Dortmund’s sixth with 10 minutes left to extend his own record, having scored in all of his past 11 league games.
He is five short of Gerd Mueller’s Bundesliga record.
On Saturday night, Schalke 04, fourth, came from two goals down to draw 2-2 with third-placed Bayer 04 Leverkusen, who had a man sent off, in the battle for the league’s third automatic Champions League place for next season.
Leverkusen were 2-0 up with an hour played after Simon Rolfes, then Michal Kadlec netted for the Werkself.
Schalke fought back with a goal by Finland’s Teemu Pukki, before Brazilian Raffael netted a late penalty after Bayer’s Omer Toprak was sent off for a foul on Pukki in the area, four minutes from time.
Hamburg SV ended their three-match losing streak with a 2-1 win at FSV Mainz 05, with South Korea international striker Son Heung-min scoring twice, while Werder Bremen were held to a 2-2 draw at Fortuna Duesseldorf.
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim drew 2-2 at VfL Wolfsburg to move up to 16th and join Bremen, with both teams just above the relegation zone.
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