Bayern, Leverkusen sew up victories in German Bundesliga

Bayern extended the lead thanks to a hard earned 2-0 win at Hoffenheim while relentless Leverkusen crushed Hannover 4-0 in the 29th round of Bundesliga on Saturday.

Bundesliga front-runners Bayern Munich reaped the 23rd victory at the 29th game as they overcame courageous Hoffenheim 2-0.

Both sides staged an evenly balanced opening period but yet Hoffenheim's Anthony Modeste had the best chance to break the deadlock. The striker made use of a through ball but failed to overcome Bayern keeper Manuel Neuer in a one-on-one situation with 30 minutes into the game.

The German giants cut a better figure in front of Hoffenheim's goal area as Sebastian Rode utilized Robert Lewandowski's assist inside the box to open the scoring into the far post corner eight minutes later.

After the break Bayern nearly doubled the lead through Thiago Alcantara and Thomas Mueller but Hoffenheim goalie Oliver Baumann was on guard twice. Due to Bayern's well-positioned defence Hoffenheim tried to reach success with long-range efforts. The host's efforts were almost rewarded as Kevin Volland and Sebastian Rudy came close to restore parity twice.

Nevertheless, an own goal by Hoffenheim's defender Andreas Beck killed the game in the dying minutes of the game. The defender cleared a square pass by Thomas Mueller into his own goal.

With the second win in row Bayern increased their advantage atop the standings to 13 points while Hoffenheim suffered their 12th loss to remain on the seventh place.

Fourth placed Bayer Leverkusen jumped on the third place as they crushed harmless, and now relegation threatened, Hannover 4-0.

The "Werkself" dominated the encounter from the kick-off against uninspired visitors from Lower Saxony. However, it took twenty minutes before Leverkusen broke the deadlock on home soil when Oemer Toprak headed home a corner at the near post.

Leverkusen kept it bowling and doubled the lead with 40 minutes into the game as Stefan Kiessling teed up for youngster Julian Brandt who slotted home from 12 meters.

After the restart Leverkusen started where they left off as hapless Hannover were unable to put up some resistance when Kyriakos Papadopouls hammered home a rebound that dropped off the bar nine minutes into the second half.

The hosts were not done with the scoring as Kiessling extended the lead, following a square pass into the box by Lars Bender, to kill the game at the 69th minute.

With the seventh straight Bundesliga win Leverkusen equaled their club record. In addition, they oust Monchengladbach from the third place, a direct UEFA Champions League berth due to a better goal difference. Meanwhile 15th-placed Hannover remain in touching distance to the bottom three.

Dortmund returned to winning ways after the news of Juergen Klopp's departure at the end of the season when they cruised to a 3-0 victory over newly promoted and relegation threatened Paderborn.

Juergen Klopp's men dominated the proceedings on the pitch after all they lacked in accuracy in front of the goal area at the first half. As a consequence, the 80,667 supporters at the Signal-Iduna Park had to wait until the 48th minute before Henrikh Mkhitaryan headed home a cross at the near post to score the opener and his second goal of the season.

The "BVB" gained momentum a doubled the lead only seven minutes later through Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who made use of a through ball to beat onrushing Paderborn goalkeeper Lukas Kruse from eleven meters. Shinji Kagawa rounded off the 10th victory of the season when he added the third goal of the afternoon with one minute remaining.

The 3-0 victory moved 10th placed Dortmund onto the eighth position of the table whereas 16th placed Paderborn suffered their 14th loss to remain on a relegation play-off spot.

Elsewhere, Shinji Okazaki's brace helped Mainz to snatch three points after a 3-2 victory at Freiburg. Augsburg increased Stuttgart's relegation worries as Raul Bobadilla marked the 2-1 winner on home soil. Berlin and Cologne shared the spoils following a goalless draw after 90 minutes.

The following fixtures are scheduled for Sunday: Bremen host last positioned Hamburg at the Northern derby while runners-up Wolfsburg encounter sixth placed Schalke. Endi