Borussia Dortmund were crowned Bundesliga champions on Saturday after a 2-0 win at home over Nuremberg gave them their first German league title since 2002.
After last week’s shock defeat at relegation-threatened Borussia Moenchengladbach, the hosts saw off Nuremberg to claim their seventh German crown and a place in next season’s Champions League.
The victory at a sold-out Signal Iduna Park in front of 80,720 fans leaves Dortmund eight points clear at the top of the table.
Photo: EPA
After second-placed Bayer Leverkusen lost 2-0 at Cologne, Borussia Dortmund were confirmed champions.
“I’m just happy,” Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp said after his side gave him the traditional beer shower. “I had thought it would feel different, more euphoric, but maybe that comes later. The team has achieved extraordinary things, set high standards and handled every pressure situation very well. What these young guys have achieved is hard to put into words. The way they have taken our direction and used it on the pitch has been incredible.”
Paraguay striker Lucas Barrios proved his recent thigh injury is behind him by opening the scoring for his 14th goal of the season when he pounced on a blocked shot from Mario Goetze to fire home on 32 minutes.
It was 2-0 at the break after Poland striker Robert Lewandowski beat goalkeeper Raphael Schaefer to the ball after a long pass from Germany defender Mats Hummels and tapped home on 43 minutes.
Cologne striker Milivoje Novakovic scored twice in the second half to settle the title race as Leverkusen went down to defeat.
On Saturday night, Bayern Munich went third in the table after they blitzed Champions League semi-finalists Schalke 04 4-1.
The poor week for die Konigsblauen continued after they lost last Tuesday’s Champions League semi-final first leg 2-0 at home to Manchester United.
Schalke were hit by three goals in less than 20 minutes, including top-scorer Mario Gomez’s 24th Bundesliga strike of the season and his 35th in all competitions, while Germany star Thomas Mueller scored twice.
Dutch winger Arjen Robben, who scored Bayern’s opening goal after just six minutes, was only denied a hat-trick by some excellent goalkeeping by Schalke’s Germany shot-stopper Manuel Neuer.
“We have a huge potential to win everything, but we need to play like that over the 90 minutes every time to get there,” Bayern caretaker coach Andries Jonker said.
The win puts Bayern in pole position to claim the valuable third Champions League spot with two games left, while Hannover 96 drop to fourth after being beaten 1-0 at home by Borussia Moenchengladbach.
Second-bottom ’Gladbach gave themselves a fighting chance of survival, although they are three points from safety with two games left.
FSV Mainz 05 moved into the Europa League places with an impressive 3-0 win over 10-man Eintracht Frankfurt, who are third from bottom and in the relegation places.
VfB Stuttgart are virtually safe after their 2-1 win at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim as the 2007 champions are now 12th, while SC Freiburg are seventh after their 2-0 win at Hamburg SV, where Senegal striker Papiss Cisse scored both goals.
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