DORTMUND: Robert Lewan­dowski scored against his former club Borussia Dortmund on Saturday to seal a tense 1-0 victory for Bayern Munich which keeps them on course for a third Bundesliga title.

Lewandowski, who joined the Bavarian giants this season, shrugged off a hostile welcome on his league return to the Signal Iduna Park, claiming the only goal in the 36th minute, heading the rebound into an unguarded net after Roman Weidenfeller saved Thomas Mueller’s initial effort.

The Polish forward won the ball from Dortmund captain Mats Hummels to get the move underway. It was a rare chance in a fractious game marred by fouls, yellow cards and broken play and left champions Bayern 10 points clear at the top of the table with 67 points.

“Every game is incredibly hard and it gets more difficult with each game. I want to congratulate my players,” Pep Guardiola said after becoming the quickest Bundesliga coach to reach 50 wins. The Spaniard needed 61 games, beating Udo Lattek’s feat from 78 games.

In recent years, the tie has been dubbed Germany’s ‘Der Klassiker’, but the defeat leaves last season’s runners-up Dortmund tenth on 33 points, 15 points from a Champions League place after poor results this season.

“Bayern weren’t the better team, but they were more effective and took their chances,” said Dortmund captain Hummels. “They only had a couple of chances and we were unlucky to lose.”

In Sundays early game, Schalke 04’s hopes of a top four Bundesliga finish receded further after a goalless draw at Augsburg left them without a win in three league games and in fifth place on 40 points, eight behind Bayer Leverkusen in fourth and one ahead of Augsburg.

Schalke striker Klaas Jan Huntelaar had the best chance of the game in the 54th minute but shot straight at Marwin Hitz with only the goalkeeper to beat after Tranquillo Barnetta won the ball.

Published in Dawn, April 6th, 2015

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