BERLIN: A 30-metre rocket from Naldo fired Schalke 04 to a 2-0 victory over arch rivals Borussia Dortmund on Sunday and streng­thened their grip on second place in the Bundesliga.

Naldo’s superb strike sent the blue half of the Ruhr region into raptures as Schalke recorded their first win over Dortmund since Sept 2014.

The Brazilian was the hero again on Sunday, as he secured three points for his side late in the second half.

Always a fiercely contested derby, there was even more at stake than usual in Sunday’s game, with just one point separating second-placed Schalke from third-placed Dortmund before kick-off.

Victory saw Schalke pull four points clear of third place, while Dortmund drop to fourth.

Schalke came close after just five minutes, Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Burki diving at full stretch to turn Alessandro Schoepf’s shot around the post.

At the other end, Marco Reus forced a flying save from Ralf Faehrmann as his long range free-kick fizzed towards the top corner.

The home side had the better of the first half, however, and could have taken the lead on the stroke of half-time when Yevhen Konoplyanka curled a low shot around the far post.

Konoplyanka had better luck five minutes after the break as he fired Schalke in front. Set free by Daniel Calig­iuri on the counter-attack, the Ukrainian smashed a powerful shot past Burki to give his side a well deserved lead.

Dortmund rallied in the last 20 minutes, with chances falling to Christian Pulisic and Reus.

Yet with eight minutes to play, Schalke were awarded a free-kick. Caligiuri rolled the ball to Naldo, who blasted it into the bottom corner to secure victory.

Dortmund’s misery was compounded in stoppage time, when striker Michy Bat­s­huayi was carried off on a stretcher after clashing with Benjamin Stambouli.

Late on Saturday, Sandro Wagner netted twice as treble-chasing Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich ran riot in a 5-1 win at home to Borussia Moenchengladbach.

After securing a sixth straight German league title last weekend and booking a Champions League semi-final place in midweek, this was another dominant display from Bayern, who have a German Cup semi-final at Leverkusen on Tuesday.

Wagner, the back-up at Bayern for Robert Lewa­ndowski who was on the bench, has scored seven goals in his last eight games.

Published in Dawn, April 16th, 2018