Dortmund keeps title hopes alive with Wolfsburg thrashing

Bayern Munich was held by Borussia Monchengladbach 1-1 at the Allianz Arena, denying it the chance to to wrap up a fourth title in a row in a week that saw Dortmund captain Hummels confirm his desire to return to Bayern for next season.

Published : Apr 30, 2016 22:03 IST , Dortmund

Borussia Dortmund captain Mats Hummels in action against Wolfsburg.
Borussia Dortmund captain Mats Hummels in action against Wolfsburg.
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Borussia Dortmund captain Mats Hummels in action against Wolfsburg.

Mats Hummels bore the full brunt of Borussia Dortmund fans' frustration as their faint hopes of the Bundesliga title were kept alive with a 5-1 win over Wolfsburg.

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Bayern Munich was held by Borussia Monchengladbach 1-1 at the Allianz Arena, denying it the chance to to wrap up a fourth title in a row in a week that saw Dortmund captain Hummels confirm his desire to return to Bayern for next season. Mutiny was in the air as Hummels' name was booed by Signal Iduna Park pre-match, his every touch was whistled and the 'Yellow Wall' raised a banner which read: "The captain is leaving the ship. The sooner, the better!"

The toxic atmosphere was lifted somewhat as Shinji Kagawa and Adrian Ramos had Dortmund two goals up inside 10 minutes. Marco Reus and a late Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang double put the result beyond doubt in the second half before Andre Schurrle's consolation effort, and a late Andre Hahn goal in Munich leaves Dortmund five points behind Bayern with two games to play.

While the title is still very much in Pep Guardiola's hands, Thomas Tuchel's first season in charge has been a promising one, following 2014-15's brief flirt with the relegation zone, although the coach will have to build on it without his skipper. The backlash aimed at Hummels threatened to dominate as the home fans' anger spilled down from the stands early on, but a quick-fire double gave them reason to smile.

Bayern had already scored through Thomas Muller, but news had barely filtered through to Dortmund when Kagawa struck first, reacting quickest after Henrikh Mkhitaryan lashed a wild volley across the 18-yard box to prod home in the seventh minute. And Kagawa turned provider two minutes later, latching on to a loose ball before clipping a pass in to Ramos, who hammered an effort beyond Diego Benaglio at the near post.

Wolfsburg has slipped from Bayern's closest rival last season to mid-table obscurity this term, but Daniel Caligiuri offered a reminder of its quality when he cut inside Marcel Schmelzer and rattled the crossbar. Reus hit the side-netting after rounding Benaglio at the other end as the two sides kept the crowd focused on match action for the most part.

Dortmund's third arrived on the hour as Benaglio's reward for impressively repelling Sven Bender and Kagawa on the rebound was to see Ramos lay the ball back for Reus to clip a measured effort beyond him.

As Wolfsburg lost all interest in the contest, Aubameyang emerged from the bench to add a dominant slant to the scoreline, nodding fellow substitute Nuri Sahin's cross home from inside the six-yard box, before repeating the trick from Schmelzer's centre .

Hummels was still jeered in the closing stages as the Dortmund faithful made their feelings known, and the skipper was in for extra rough treatment when he allowed Schurrle to burst clear and score in the final minutes.

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