Dortmund and Bayern Leverkusen claimed Champions League victories on Wednesday to top their groups and complete a strong week for German clubs in the tournament.
Leverkusen had second half goals from Giulio Donati and Kyriakos Papadopoulos to thank for a 2-0 win over Zenit St Petersburg despite Wendell being sent off late on.
They top Group C on six points, one ahead of Monaco and two better than the Russians.
“We hope to qualify,” coach Roger Schmidt said. “We have won two games and know our chances are quite good to play Champions League even after Christmas.”
Dortmund put their indifferent domestic form behind them to thrash Galatasaray 4-0 in Istanbul on a double from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and further strikes from Marco Reus and Adrian Ramos.
But coach Juergen Klopp claimed the match was tougher than the scoreline suggested.
“I don’t think it was a comfortable victory, it was just that the goals came at the right time,” Klopp said.
The win maintained their 100 per cent record in Group D and all but secured progress to the knock-out phase.
On Tuesday, Bayern Munich also kept up their perfect record in Group E with a 7-1 hammering of Roma in the Italian capital while a last minute goal gave Schalke a 4-3 win over Sporting Lisbon and second place in Group G.
dpa/NAN.
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