Arjen Robben (c.) scored his 93rd Bundesliga goal for Bayern Munich, moving him one ahead of Giovane Elber.
Arjen Robben (c.) scored his 93rd Bundesliga goal for Bayern Munich, moving him one ahead of Giovane Elber.

Bayern Munich ease past Borussia Dortmund to go four points clear at the top

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Arjen Robben became Bayern Munich's all-time leading foreign scorer in the Bundesliga as the champions eased to victory over Borussia Dortmund in Saturday's Klassiker to move four points clear at the top of the table.

Borussia Dortmund 1-3 Bayern Munich

Goals: 0-1 Robben (17'), 0-2 Lewandowski (37'), 0-3 Alaba (67'), 1-3 Bartra (88')

After a balanced opening at the Signal Iduna Park, Bayern drew first blood on 17 minutes as Thiago lofted a ball into the area for James Rodriguez, who controlled brilliantly before teeing up Robben for a trademark left-footed strike. A flurry of chances followed on the half-hour, with Sven Ulreich and Roman Bürki producing fine saves to deny Andrey Yarmolenko and Robert Lewandowski, before Shinji Kagawa's deflected effort clipped the outside of the post. Lewandowski made it 2-0 after his cheeky flick from a Joshua Kimmich cross took a deflection off Julian Weigl and looped over Bürki. The misery continued for Dortmund as they lost Sokratis to an ankle injury just before half-time.  

Lewandowski had the opportunity to deliver a knockout blow early in the second half, but Bürki produced a superb reflex save to keep out the Polish marksman's bullet header. An in-form Christian Pulisic looked determined to drag Dortmund back into the game, but Yarmolenko and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang got in each other's way after the American's fine low ball across from the left. The writing was on the wall when David Alaba's cross midway through the half evaded everyone - Lewandowski, Bürki and James - and ended up in the back of the net. Marc Bartra did grab a fine late consolation after more good work from Pulisic down the left, but Bayern saw it out to move four points clear of RB Leipzig - and six ahead of Dortmund - at the top of the table.

Man of the Match

It was a genuine captain's performance from Robben, who not only wrote his name into the Bayern history books but inspired his side throughout, getting the opening goal in fine style and coming close to teeing up Lewandowski at the start of the second half. The 33-year-old appears revitalised under Jupp Heynckes, and his talent and experience will be invaluable to Bayern as they go in search of more silverware this season.

Match stats

    Robben has now scored nine times in his last 12 competitive games against Dortmund. His 17th-minute strike moved him onto 93 Bundesliga goals for Bayern, making him the club's all-time leading foreign scorer ahead of Giovane Elber (92).Lewandowski scored his 162nd Bundesliga goal, moving him level with Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge in joint eleventh place on the all-time list. His 11th strike of the campaign put him one ahead of Aubameyang in the scoring charts. Bayern have now reached the 500-goal mark in 225 Bundesliga games under Jupp Heynckes. Only two Bayern coaches have overseen more goals: Udo Lattek (736) and Ottmar Hitzfeld (507).With just one point from four Bundesliga games, Dortmund are enduring their worst run of form since the first half of the 2014/15 season, which they finished in 7th place. Heynckes has not lost any of his last 29 games as a Bundesliga coach (25 wins, four draws), while he has won 20 of his last 21 – the only exception being a 1-1 draw in Dortmund.

Line-ups

Dortmund:  Bürki – Bartra, Sokratis (Toljan 42'), Toprak, Schmelzer (c) – Castro, Weigl, Kagawa (Götze 68') – Yarmolenko (Sancho 80'), Aubameyang, Pulisic
Unused substitutes: Weidenfeller, Guerreiro, Sahin, Schürrle
Coach: Peter Bosz

Bayern: Ulreich – Kimmich, Süle, Hummels, Alaba (Rafinha 74') – Martinez (Rudy 81'), Thiago – Robben (c), James (Vidal 84'), Coman – Lewandowski
Unused substitutes: Starke, Boateng, Tolisso, Wriedt
Coach: Jupp Heynckes

Watch: Robben can't quite believe Bayern's turnaround under Jupp Heynckes!

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