Robert Lewandowski scored against his ex-club Borussia Dortmund on Saturday to seal Bayern Munich’s 1-0 win which keeps them on course for a third Bundesliga title.
Lewandowski’s first-half header clinched Bayern’s win which left them ten points clear at the top of the table with seven games left.
In recent years, the tie has been dubbed Germany’s ‘Der Klassiker’, but the defeat leaves last season’s runners-up Dortmund tenth, but now 15 points from a Champions League place after poor results this season.
“Bayern weren’t the better team, but they were more effective and took their chances,” said Dortmund captain Mats Hummels.
“They only had a couple of chances and we were unlucky to lose.”
Their victory merely underlines Bayern’s domination in Germany and came without injured stars David Alaba, Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery.
“It was tight up until the very end,” said Bayern captain Philipp Lahm.
“We defended well but we didn’t do well with less possession than we are used to. It was a hard-fought win.”
The visitors took the lead when Thomas Mueller’s shot rebounded off Roman Weidenfeller’s foot and Lewandowski headed home the rebound on 36 minutes.
Dortmund’s best chance was when Marco Reus’ second-half free-kick was superbly saved by Manuel Neuer as Borussia suffered their first league defeat since the start of February.
Bayern’s Spain midfielder Thiago Alcantara came on for his first appearance since March 2014 following back-to-back knee injuries, but Germany captain Bastian Schweinsteiger limped off with an ankle knock with 58 minutes gone.
Munich’s World Cup-winner Mario Goetze came on for the last ten minutes against his former club to a symphony of whistles at Dortmund’s Westfalenstadion.
– Bayer, Gladbach post big wins –
Earlier, Borussia Moenchengladbach and Bayer Leverkusen posted big wins as the battle for third-place intensified.
The Bundesliga’s top three qualify automatically for the Champions League.
With seven games now left, third-placed Gladbach enjoyed an impressive 4-1 come-back win at Hoffenheim which keeps them two-points clear of Leverkusen, who posted a 4-0 win at home to over hapless Hamburg.
Hosts Hoffenheim took the lead at home to Gladbach when forward Sven Schipplock enjoyed a simple tap-in on 17 minutes, but Gladbach proved their mettle with three goals in ten first-half minutes.
First Germany striker Max Kruse drilled home a penalty, then Patrick Herrmann added a second before Brazilian striker Raffael scored on 36 minutes to make it 3-1 at the break.
Herrmann then claimed his tenth goal of the season when he netted after a quick thrown on from Kruse with 51 minutes gone.
Fourth-placed Leverkusen also underlined their Champions League pedigree by putting Hamburg to the sword.
With the team third from bottom and on course for a first relegation from Germany’s top flight, Hamburg sacked Joe Zinnbauer ten days ago, but his successor Peter Knaebel could only watch as his team was thrashed.
Midfielder Gonzalo Castro gave Leverkusen the lead at the BayArena by firing into an empty net after Germany winger Karim Bellarabi had pulled the Hamburg defence apart with only seven minutes gone.
A diving header from Leverkusen striker Stefan Kiessling just before half-time gave Roger Schmidt’s Bayer a 2-0 half-time lead before Kiessling added their third after a goal-mouth scramble with the Hamburg defence pulled to pieces on 56 minutes.
Just seven minutes later, Leverkusen added their fourth when Kiessling’s pass found Bellarabi to lay the ball off for Castro, who hit the top corner and claimed his second of the game.
Leverkusen host Bayern in the German Cup quarter-final on Wednesday.
Second-placed Wolfsburg remain seven points clear of Gladbach with a 3-1 win at home to bottom VfB Stuttgart.
Swiss midfielder Ricardo Rodriguez converted a penalty and a free-kick either side of half-time before ex-Chelsea winger Andre Schuerrle came off the bench to add their third.
Freiburg find themselves three-points clear of the relegation zone after their 1-0 win at home to Cologne while Hanover dropped to just above the bottom three with a 2-2 draw at Eintracht Frankfurt.
Hanover’s Ivory Coast striker Didier Ya Konan rescued his team with a late equaliser, his first for the north German club since his six month sojourn at Saudi Arabian side Al Ittihad Jeddah.