Bayern squeeze past Dortmund

Bayern Munich ground out a 1-0 win at Borussia Dortmund on Saturday to delight coach Pep Guardiola and underline their status as runaway German league leaders.

Poland striker Robert Lewandowski returned to haunt his former club and his first-half header at Dortmund's Westfalenstadion gave Bayern their 21st league win of the season to stay on course for a third league title.

Despite missing injured stars David Alaba, Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben and restricted to 50 percent possession, Bayern took the few chances that came their way to stay ten points clear at the top of the Bundesliga table.

"It was tight up until the very end," said Bayern captain Philipp Lahm.

"We defended well but we didn't do well with less possession than we are used to. It was a hard-fought win."

Dortmund captain Mats Hummels insisted Bayern "were not the better team", but the defending champions took their chances and restricted Borussia to two clear Marco Reus second-half chances.

This was Dortmund's first league defeat since the start of February, but they remain 34 points behind Bayern and are six points off a Europa league place for next season.