Euro stars Bayern, Dortmund run riot

BERLIN (AFP) –

Bayern Munich defender Jerome Boateng (2ndL) celebrates with teammates during their German first division Bundesliga football match against Nuremberg, in Munich, on April 13, 2013. Champions League semi-finalists Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund registered huge wins and hit 10 goals between them as they returned to Bundesliga duty in sensational style.

Champions League semi-finalists Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund registered huge wins, hitting 10 goals between them, as they returned to Bundesliga duty in sensational style on Saturday.

Having drawn Barcelona in the last four of the Champions League, German champions Bayern crushed Nuremberg 4-0 at Munich’s Allianz Arena despite resting nine of the team which won 2-0 at Juventus on Wednesday.

“The game showed my players have a very professional attitude at this stage of the season,” said Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes.

“It’s good that I was able to make nine changes, we still have a lot of games ahead of us.”

Dortmund hammered bottom side Greuther Fuerth 6-1 with Jose Mourinho, coach of their Champions League semi-final opponents Real Madrid, watching in Franconia.

“It could have been a hairy situation, but it wasn’t because of my team’s high level of concentration,” quipped Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp, after it emerged in the German media on Friday that he has had a hair transplant.

Having already been confirmed Bundesliga champions the week before, Bayern extended their unbeaten run in the German league to 20 matches since losing to Bayer Leverkusen last October — their only league defeat this season.

Nuremberg came to Munich unbeaten in their previous nine games and chasing their first win at Bayern in 21 years, but it took just five minutes to dismiss any notion of an upset.

Even without nine first-choice players, Bayern were 3-0 up inside 25 minutes.

Germany defender Jerome Boateng volleyed home the first with just five minutes gone before the centre-back provided the final pass for Mario Gomez to make it 2-0 on 17 minutes.

Dortmund’s striker Robert Lewandowski (L) and Fuerth’s midfielder Johannes Geis (C) fight for the ball during their German first division Bundesliga football match in the southern German city of Fuerth on April 13, 2013. Dortmund hammered bottom side Greuther Fuerth 6-1.

Brazil defender Rafinha, in at right-back for Lahm, scored the third on 24 minutes with France wing Franck Ribery captaining the team for the first time since he joined them back in 2007.

Nuremberg’s luck did not improve after the break when Belgium midfielder Timmy Simons’ penalty was saved by Bayern’s stand-in goalkeeper Tom Starke, albeit with his head when the ball went through his gloves.

Swiss wing Xherdan Shaqiri grabbed Bayern’s fourth on 56 minutes after a final pass from Ribery, while coach Jupp Heynckes gave a league debut to 17-year-old Danish midfielder Pierre Hojbjerg for the final 20 minutes.

The win leaves Bayern on 78 points, 20 clear of second-placed Dortmund, with five games left and just three short of Borussia’s record of 81 points in a Bundesliga season, set last year.

After their dramatic 3-2 Champions League win over Malaga in midweek, Dortmund ran riot at Fuerth with both Germany midfielders Ilkay Gundogan and Mario Goetze scoring twice early as it finished 5-0 at the break.

Fuerth are now just two matches short of becoming the first Bundesliga team to lose all of their home matches in a season.

The hosts pulled a goal back with 20 minutes left, but Robert Lewandowski netted Dortmund’s sixth with ten minutes left to extend his own record having scored in all of his last 11 league games.

He is five short of Gerd Mueller’s Bundesliga record.

Schalke’s midfielder Raffael (L) and Leverkusen’s midfielder Simon Rolfes fight for the ball during their German first division Bundesliga football match in the German city of Gelsenkirchen on April 13, 2013. Schalke came from two goals down to draw 2-2 with third-placed Leverkusen, who had a man sent off, in the battle for the league’s third automatic Champions League place for next season.

On Saturday night Schalke, fourth, came from two goals down to draw 2-2 with third-placed Leverkusen, who had a man sent off, in the battle for the league’s third automatic Champions League place for next season.

Leverkusen were 2-0 up with an hour played after Simon Rolfes, then Michal Kadlec netted for the Werkself.

Schalke fought back with a goal by Finland’s Teemu Pukki before Brazil’s Raffael netted a late penalty after Bayer’s Omer Toprak was sent off for a foul on Pukki in the area, four minutes from time.

Hamburg ended their three-match losing streak with a 2-1 win at Mainz with South Korea striker Son Heung-Min scoring twice, while Bremen were held to a 2-2 draw at Fortuna Duesseldorf.

Hoffenheim drew 2-2 at Wolfsburg to move up to 16th and join Bremen with both teams just above the relegation zone.