Dortmund downs Hanover

BERLIN: Hosts Borussia Dortmund warmed up for their looming Champions League clash at home to Shakhtar Donetsk with a 3-1 win over Hanover 96 to stay second in the Bundesliga.
With runaway league leaders Bayern Munich at relegation-threatened Hoffenheim yesterday, Dortmund’s victory provisionally trims the Bavarians’ lead to 14 points.
Poland striker Robert Lewandowski, who had only been allowed to play on Friday after the German Football Association (DFB) reduced his three-match ban, scored twice in the first-half as the hosts raced into a 2-0 lead after 21 minutes.
With Germany defender Mats Hummels out with flu, Brazilian Felipe Santana took over at center-back, but his poorly timed clearance header needed a save from goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller.
The parry fell into the path of Norway striker Mohammed Abdellaoue, who headed home for Hanover on 40 minutes.
Lewandowski’s back-up, Julian Schieber, who started on the right wing, made sure of the win when he headed the ball onto Dortmund’s Poland midfielder Jakub Blaszczykowski, then drilled home the return pass on 72 minutes.
Schalke, who host Dortmund in the Ruhr valley derby next Saturday, are up to sixth after they beat Wolfsburg 4-1 with teenage midfielder Julian Draxler, 19, involved in the first three goals.
Having dropped from second to tenth at the start of February, Schalke are still in Champions League contention after a 1-1 draw at Galatasaray with the return leg in Gelsenkirchen on March 12.
Bremen suffered their third straight defeat, dropping to 13th, after they suffered a 1-0 win at home to Augsburg, who remain third from bottom, while Nuremberg moved up to 12th with a 1-1 draw at home against Freiburg.
Hamburg drop to seventh after their 1-1 draw at home against bottom side Greuther Fuerth while third-placed Bayer Leverkusen host mid-table Stuttgart at home on Saturday night.