Defending Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich roared back to the top of the table with a dominating victory over Borussia Dortmund in a 5-0 dismantling at Allianz Arena.<\/p>\n

The 100th instance of \u201cDer Klassiker\u201d started with a missed opportunity for Borussia Dortmund early in the match to put Bayern on its heels when midfielder Mahmoud Dahoud failed to connect on a Marco Reus cross from 16 feet out in the sixth minute.<\/p>\n

Dahoud\u2019s shot smashed against the post and Dortmund would rue the missed opportunity as four minutes later, in the tenth minute, former defender Mats Hummels headed a perfectly placed Thiago Alcantara corner into the back of the net to give Munich an early lead.<\/p>\n

This proved to be the beginning the scoring for the Bavarians, as Robert Lewandowski made it a two goal lead seven minutes later. \u00a0His 200th Bundesliga goal came from stealing a lazy pass from Dortmund\u2019s Dan Axel-Zagadou and chipping the ball over the advancing Dortmund keeper and into the back of the net. \u00a0Lewandowski joins esteemed company as only the 5th player to score 200 goals in the history of the Bundesliga and only German great Gerd Muller has done it faster.\u00a0 He is also the only non-German born player to achieve this feat.<\/p>\n

Bayern essentially put the game out of reach in the final minutes of the first half with goals from midfielder Javi Martinez and winger Serge Gnabry.<\/p>\n

The second half fizzled to the final whistle as Munich took its foot off the pedal and a dismayed Dortmund looked to avoid further embarrassment. \u00a0Lewandowski put a final punctuation on the match with a goal in the 89th minute to close out what was an embarrassing evening for Dortmun.<\/p>\n

This was a defining fixture in deciding the Bundesliga title this year and the comfort that Munich displayed in a fixture of this magnitude was evidence of the deep divide in experience between the two clubs. \u00a0Many of the Bayern\u2019s starting eleven are veterans of such high pressure fixtures like today whereas the young Dortmund side seemed to struggle with the pressure that comes with a fixture of such gravitas. Youngsters like Jadon Sancho and Jacob Bruun Larsen had little to no impact on the match.<\/p>\n

Dortmund\u2019s makeshift backline struggled mightily against a Bayern attack that has been in form as of late (having scored 17 goals in their last three domestic matches). \u00a0The fullback pairing of Lukas Piszczek and Abdou Diallo struggled mightily after coming off injuries. Munich\u2019s wingers Kingsley Coman and Serge Gnabry were able to blur past them and the Dortmund pair never looked quite fit on the pitch. \u00a0Dortmund defender, Zagadou, looked especially overwhelmed by the speed and skill that Munich had on display tonight.<\/p>\n

With six matches to play and a one point lead in the league table, Bayern\u2019s Bundesliga destiny is now in their own hands. However, with difficult fixtures on the horizon against Leipzig and Frankfurt, the Bundesliga title is anything but decided.<\/p>\n

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[column size=”1\/2″][blog type=”timeline” posts=”10″ cats=”132″ heading=”Borussia Dortmund” heading_type=”timeline” \/][\/column]<\/p>\n

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