Dortmund hit Bremen for five
Bremen - Borussia Dortmund kept the pressure on second-place Bayer Leverkusen after managing to win back-to-back in the Bundesliga for the first time since early November, steamrollering their way to a 5-1 victory at Werder Bremen.
Lewa breaks the deadlock
First-half goals from Robert Lewandowski and Henrikh Mkhitaryan and further strikes after the break from Manuel Friedrich and one more apiece from Mkhitaryan and Lewandowski wrapped up the points for Jürgen Klopp's side before sub Leven Aycicek bagged a late consolation for the home side. The result leaves Klopp's counterpart Robin Dutt with much to ponder as the Green-Whites drop ever closer to the relegation zone – they are now just a point clear of fourth-bottom VfB Stuttgart, who host FC Augsburg on Sunday.
The hosts made an engaged start, quite in the spirit of midfielder Zlatko Junuzovic's colourful pre-match exhortation to “run until we throw up” and 11 minutes in, Aaron Hunt and Eljero Elia combined well to set up Franco Di Santo, but the Argentinian frontman was unable get his shot off and the moment passed.
There was certainly no doubting Bremen's commitment but as the half unfolded, Dortmund gradually kicked into attacking gear and it took last-ditch tackles from Luca Caldirola in the 18th minute and Assani Lukimya not long after that to foil Mkhitaryan and Marco Reus respectively. There was no stopping Lewandowski on the 26-minute mark however, the Polish frontman latching onto a ball from Marcel Schmelzer after Elia had given possession away at the corner flag and planting a clinical far-post finish past home keeper Raphael Wolf.
Mkhitaryan and Friedrich make it safe
Bremen's new signing from Bordeaux Ludovic Obraniak then carved out a couple of chances for Sebastian Prödl and Di Santo, both headers coming to naught, before Mkhitaryan hit the side netting from a tight angle at the other end with Wolf beaten. Four minutes before half time, though, the Armenian international made good on that miss, picking up Lewandowski's ball from the left and drifting along the edge of the box before rifling another clinical shot into the corner of the hosts' net.
Two to the good at the midway mark, BVB came out hungry for more after the restart and just three minutes in, Friedrich was on hand to knock number three over the line after Philipp Bargfrede had inadvertently teed him up to perfection, attempting to clear a corner from Reus. It was looking a long way back now for Bremen but there was to be no let-up from the visitors, with Lewandowski coming within inches of adding a fourth before his compatriot Lukasz Piszczek rattled the bar with a long-range thunderbolt.
Dortmund pile on the agony
It was thus no great surprise when Dortmund did then find the net again, Mkhitaryan rounding off a rapier-like counter-attack by slotting home Reus's backheeled assist for his second goal of the match and fifth of the season. It was now turning into a damage-limitation exercise for the hosts and Wolf did his bit with a great flying save to deny Lewandowski ten minutes from time. But five minutes later, the forward latched onto a long ball and rounded the over-exposed keeper to fire his team 5-0 in front and himself to the very top of the individual scoring chart.
Leven Aycicek bagged a late consolation for Bremen with a fine 89th-minute finish but while that made for a memorable fresh-off-the-bench top-flight debut for the youngster, there was little else in the way of good news for Werder in this one.
Line-ups and statistics
