How did Bayern Munich run riot on Borussia Dortmund?

The 100^th edition of Der Klassiker in the Bundesliga came with heightened stakes. Borussia Dortmund jumped out ahead in the race for the league title during the first half of the season. The side from northwest Germany has been led by a collection of young attackers, such as Jadon Sancho and Christian Pulišić, who is due to leave for Chelsea in the summer.

However, Bayern Munich have closed the gap in the second half of the season. Having taken 25 points of an available 30 since returning from the winter break, the side from Bavaria have become the favourites in recent weeks to take their seventh straight Bundesliga title.

Former Eintracht Frankfurt manager Niko Kovač has not had a smooth first season at the Allianz Arena. After the struggles of the first half of the season in the league and elimination from the UEFA Champions League by Liverpool in the round of 16, Bayern Munich still have a chance to complete a domestic double with the DFB Pokal and Bundesliga title.

This match in Bavaria looked like a title decider. A Borussia Dortmund victory would have left Bayern Munich five points behind with only five matches to play. Unfortunately, Dortmund haven’t had much success during their visits to Munich, with the Bavarians winning the last four home league matches by an aggregate score of 17-3. This trend continued, as BVB appeared out of sorts en route to an emphatic 5-0 defeat.

Bayern were able to take a 2-0 lead in the first 20 minutes, with both goals coming from former Borussia Dortmund players Mats Hummels and Robert Lewandowski. The traffic was almost all one way, and Bayern Munich were able to slice through at will. Dortmund’s backline appeared adrift, and there was no better example of this than the second goal when young Dan-Axel Zagadou attempted an ill-advised pass that was easily intercepted by Lewandowski, who took two touches before easily slotting the ball past Roman Bürki.

After the first 45 minutes, Bayern had a 4-0 lead and were comfortably in control. The second half fizzled out, as they were content to just control possession. They added a fifth goal in the 89^th minute, ending the match with an easy looking 5-0 victory that has left Borussia Dortmund looking unlikely to claim their first league title since 2011-2012.

Lineups

Niko Kovač made five changes to the side that played an incredible match in midweek against FC Heidenheim in the quarter-finals of the DFB Pokal, playing 87 minutes with 10 men before eventually winning 5-4 to advance to the semi-finals. Manuel Neuer returned as the starting goalkeeper, with Sven Ulreich going back to the bench. He was joined on the bench by Rafinha, who gave up the starting right-back slot to David Alaba. James Rodriguez, Leon Goretzka, and Franck Ribéry also lost their starting positions, replaced by Javi Martínez, Kingsley Coman, and Robert Lewandowski.

Borussia Dortmund had no midweek fixture, as they were eliminated from the DFB Pokal by Werder Bremen in February. Lucien Favre made four changes from the side that won 2-0 at home to Wolfsburg a week earlier. Łukasz Piszczek returned from injury to start at right-back, replacing Marius Wolf. Raphaël Guerreiro and Mario Götze lost their berths in the midfield to Jacob Bruun Larsen and Mahmoud Dahoud.