BERLIN: Robert Lewandowski humiliated his old club on Saturday as Bayern Munich obliterated former leaders Borussia Dortmund with a scintillating 5-0 win to reclaim their spot at the top of the Bundesliga.

Bayern began the day under immense pressure, having slipped two points behind Dortmund in the title race a week earlier. They ended it on cloud nine, after a masterful first-half performance left Dortmund in the dust and put Bayern on course for a seventh successive league title.

The champions may be just a single point ahead of Dortmund in the title race, but the two teams were separated by a gargantuan gulf in quality at the Allianz Arena.

“That was a lesson for us, a very, very difficult game for us,” Dortmund coach Lucien Favre said.

Mahmoud Dahoud struck the post early on for the visitors, but two quick goals from former Dortmund players put a dominant Bayern firmly in the driving seat.

Mats Hummels landed the first blow on ten minutes, rising high at a corner to head in the opener for Bayern. Lewandowski then pounced on a mistake by Dortmund centre-back Dan-Axel Zagadou to double the lead seven minutes later.

Bayern kept pushing and deservedly scored again through Javi Martinez in the 41st, two minutes before Serge Gnabry made it 4-0 to have club president Uli Hoeness waving his fists in triumph in the stands.

The second half was much quieter than the first and Lewandowski wrapped it up with his 21st goal of the season in the 89th.

RB Leipzig and Eintracht Frankfurt remain on course to take the remaining two Champions League spots after both won earlier on Saturday.

Matheus Cunha scored a brilliant individual goal to seal Leipzig’s 4-2 win at Bayer Leverkusen and consolidate third place while Luka Jovic scored in the ninth minute of stoppage time for fourth-placed Frankfurt to snatch a late 2-1 win at Schalke 04.

Schalke remain five points clear of the bottom three after Nuremberg and VfB Stuttgart shared the points in a 1-1 draw. Stuttgart are four points ahead of Nuremberg in the relegation play-off place.

Relegation seems all but certain for bottom side Hanover 96 after a 3-1 defeat to local rivals VfL Wolfsburg.

Also, Hertha Berlin lost 2-1 at home to promoted Fortuna Duesseldorf.

Published in Dawn, April 8th, 2019