BERLIN: Borussia Dort­mund eased past Freiburg 4-0 on Sunday, with goals from Jadon Sancho, Marco Reus, Mario Goetze and Paco Alcacer, to stay a point behind leaders Bayern Munich with four games left in the Bundesliga season.

England international Sancho tapped in from close range for the visitors in the 12th minute and Reus completed another fine move in the 54th to score his 16th goal of the season.

The pair then combined to set up Goetze for their third in the 79th and Dortmund’s top scorer Alcacer made it 4-0 with an 87th minute penalty, his 17th league goal.

The result kept Dortmund, on 69 points, within striking distance of Bayern, who are top on 70 after their 1-0 victory over Werder Bremen on Saturday.

RB Leipzig are in third place on 61, nine points clear of fourth-placed Eintracht Frankfurt, after edging past fifth-placed Borussia Moen­chengla­dbach 2-1, Marcel Halsten­berg scoring in each half on Saturday.

Having scored a penalty in the first half, Halstenberg added another shortly after half-time to put Leipzig in full control.

Alassane Plea pulled one back for Gladbach, but the home side ultimately missed the chance to break into the top four, and remain a point behind Frankfurt, who play on Monday.

Frankfurt are two points ahead of sixth-placed Hoffenheim who defeated Schalke 04 5-2 on Saturday.

In-form Algerian midfielder Ishak Belfodil opened the scoring, and Andrej Kramaric doubled the lead just before half-time.

Schalke briefly rallied thanks to a Daniel Caligiuri penalty and Guido Burgs­taller picked up a late consolation goal, but second-half strikes from Adam Szalai, Nadiem Amiri and Belfodil saw Hoffenheim cruise to victory and tighten their grip on sixth place.

Published in Dawn, April 22nd, 2019