Dortmund defeat Bayern to close in on title
Reuters - Wednesday 11 April 2012, 21:16
Champions Borussia Dortmund
closed in on their second consecutive Bundesliga title on
Wednesday, beating rivals Bayern Munich 1-0 with a backheel from
Robert Lewandowski to go six points clear at the top of the
table with four games left.
Poland international Lewandowski struck in the 77th minute,
flicking in a Kevin Grosskreutz shot with his heel for his 20th
league goal of the season that lifted Dortmund to 69 points and
left Bayern in second place on 63.
Bayern, whose nine-game winning streak was snapped, missed
the chance to level five minutes from time when Arjen Robben had
his penalty saved by Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller.
"The final minutes were unbelievable," Dortmund coach
Jurgen Klopp told reporters.
"I think we deserved the win and we could not have played
better. Now our friends at Schalke await us," he said of
Saturday's Ruhr valley derby.
With Germany's football royalty in the stands and 200
countries tuned in for the big match, Dortmund, unbeaten now for
a club record 24 straight games, were the better side
throughout, even though playmaker Mario Gotze was ruled out
after recovering from as groin injury only days ago.
It took the hosts only two minutes to slice open the Bayern
defence with a superb through ball by Ilkay Guendogan for Jakub
Blaszczykowski to slide the ball past keeper Manuel Neuer but
narrowly wide.
DORTMUND PACE
Four minutes later Neuer twice denied the hosts, saving
Grosskreutz's point-blank effort and then blocking Lewandowski's
rebound shot as the atmosphere among the sold-out 80,720 crowd
heated up.
The Pole, Dortmund's top scorer, then rattled the post with
a powerful header in the 38th as Bayern struggled to keep up
with the pace.
The visitors' biggest chance came on the hour but Franck
Ribery's low drive from a tight angle sailed just wide of the
post before Lewandowski struck 13 minutes from time.
Bayern poured forward for the equaliser and had a golden
opportunity to level when Robben was brought down by
Weidenfeller five minutes from time.
The Dutchman's weak spot-kick was saved by the keeper and
minutes later Robben again missed from three metres out, somehow
managing to fire over the bar.
Lewandowski again hit the
woodwork when he chipped Neuer in stoppage time with the ball
bouncing off the bar.
"This is extremely bitter and disappointing as I had scored
the last 10 or 11 penalties," Robben told reporters. "Now they
are almost champions."
Hannover 96 beat VfL Wolfsburg 2-0 to boost their chances of
European football next season as they moved up to seventh place
on 44 points leaving their opponents in 10th on 40.
Nuremberg took a big step towards staying up with a gutsy
4-1 win over third-placed Schalke 04 who have 57 points, four
ahead of fourth-placed Borussia Monchengladbach, who drew 2-2
at Werder Bremen on Tuesday.
Hamburg dropped deeper into relegation trouble after being
crushed 4-0 by Hoffenheim for their fifth defeat in seven games
to remain only two points off the relegation play-off spot on 31
points in 14th place.