FC Bayern Munich have won the ‘German Clásico’ as they defeated Borussia Dortmund 3-0 in a Bundesliga clash on Saturday evening.

The match between the two UEFA Champions League finalists of the 2012/13 season was broadcasted live in 207 of the 209 FIFA member countries. Football fans in North Korea and Pakistan were the unlucky ones to miss the live action which took place at the Signal Iduna Park.

Borussia Dortmund coach Jürgen Klopp had to cope with the absence of three key players in Neven Subotic, Mats Hummels and Marcel Schmelzer, while Pep Guardiola had to do without European Football of the Year 2013 Franck Ribéry.

Borussia Dortmund almost took an early lead in front of a 80,645 full capacity crowd at the own home ground, but Poland international Robert Lewandowski put the ball over the crossbar from a close distance four minutes into the game.

But Bayern quickly managed to display their possession football. Guardiola’s team kept the ball circulating in the Dortmund half in the first 20 minutes of the match, while the hosts waited for their chance to launch a few promising runs into the Bavarian half of the pitch. It looked like Bayern would be able to play their impressive football of the past weeks and months, but Dortmund didn’t surrender and they were on par with the visitors.

Dortmund found their way into the game as the first half proceeded and they even produced a few dangerous attacks which were stopped by the Bayern backline or keeper Manuel Neuer. Bayern on the other side failed to create any scoring opportunities and they were lucky that Dortmund didn’t take any advantage of their own chances through Jakub Blaszczykowski and Marco Reus.

Bayern had their first attempts on the target when Mario Mandzukic (35th & 38th) and Thomas Müller (35th) tested Dortmund keeper Roman Weidenfeller. Both sides had to settle for a goalless draw at half-time.

The two coaches didn’t make any changes at the beginning of the second half, but Guardiola was the first one to bring on a new player. Former Borussia Dortmund player Mario Götze came on for Mandzukic with a barrage of catcalls in the 56th minute.

The substitution paid off as Götze put Bayern in the lead and Dortmund fans fell silent in the 66th minute. Thomas Muller provided a well-timed pass from the right side to Götze, who send a sublime effort with the outside of his right foot past Weidenfeller and into the back of the net.

Dortmund kept on fighting just to see efforts by Mkhitaryan and Reus denied by Neuer. Bayern on the other hand tried to keep possession and to play down the clock.

Arjen Robben increased the lead with a fine chip over Weidenfeller, while the Dutchman set-up the third goal for the Bavarians scored by Thomas Müller.

Pep Guardiola’s men in red registered an impressive 3-0 win.

Bundesliga | Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund
BORUSSIA DORTMUND 0-3 FC BAYERN MUNICH

GOALS
0-1 Mario Götze (66′)
0-2 Arjen Robben (85′)
0-3 Thomas Müller (87′)

LINE-UPS

Borussia Dortmund
1 Roman Weidenfeller  [C] – 19 Kevin Großkreutz, 25 Sokratis, 2 Manuel Friedrich, 37 Erik Durm – 6 Sven Bender (79′ 26 Lukasz Piszczek), 18 Nuri Sahin – 16 Jakub Blaszczykowski (71′ 17 Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang), 10 Henrikh Mkhitaryan (71′ 7 Jonas Hofmann), 11 Marco Reus – 9 Robert Lewandowski

Unused Subs
20 Mitchell Langerak, 5 Sebastian Kehl, 23 Julian Schieber, 30 Koray Günter

FC Bayern Munich
1 Manuel Neuer – 13 Rafinha (79′ 5 Daniel van Buyten), 17 Jérôme Boateng (64′ 6 Thiago), 4 Dante, Alaba – 8 Javier Martinez – 10 Arjen Robben, 21 Philipp Lahm [C], 39 Toni Kroos, 25 Thomas Müller – 9 Mario Mandzukic (56′ 19 Mario Götze)

Unused Subs
22 Tom Starke, 15 Jan Kirchhoff, 23 Mitchell Weiser, 34 Pierre Emil Höjbjerg

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee
Manuel Gräfe

Assistant Referees
Guido Kleve, Markus Sinn

Fourth Official
Knut Kircher

BOOKINGS

Yellow Cards
36′ Jérôme Boateng (FC Bayern Munich)
44′ Rafinha (FC Bayern Munich)
45′ Kevin Großkreutz (Borussia Dortmund)
45′ Mario Mandzukic (FC Bayern Munich)
56′ Henrikh Mkhitaryan (Borussia Dortmund)

Yellow-Red Cards
none

Red Cards
none