Borussia Dortmund cruised into the quarter-finals of the Champions League with an eye-catching 3-0 win over Shakhtar Donetsk at the Westfalenstadion.
The German side came into the clash having claimed a hard-fought draw in Ukraine three weeks ago and Felipe Santana put them firmly on course for the next round with a thumping header just after the half hour.
Mario Gotze touched home Robert Lewandowski's cross shortly afterwards, while Jakub Blaszczykowski all but made sure of Dortmund's passage just before the hour. The emphatic win underlined Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson's comments that the Bundesliga team are one of the favourites for glory in this year's competition.
They started very much on the front foot and nearly took the lead with their first real sight at goal. Lewandowski latched on to Gotze's pass to go clean through but the Pole was thwarted by Andrei Pyatov's legs.
Sven Bender's drive from distance sailed harmlessly over before Shakhtar started to grow into the game and reminded Dortmund of their attacking prowess when Alex Teixeira's teasing free-kick into the area produced a hesitant clearance from Marcel Schmelzer.
While fellow Brazilian Fernandinho poked wide from the edge of the area, the visitors fell behind in the 31st minute. Santana leapt above his marker to head home Marco Reus' corner at the near post, with Shakhtar defender Razvan Rat failing to clear despite being positioned on the line.
Jurgen Klopp's men continued to pour forward and were duly rewarded with their second of the evening six minutes later. Lewandowski burst down the right and his low cross was tickled goalwards by Gotze, with the ball taking a deflection off a Shakhtar defender before nestling into the net.
Dortmund were clearly in the ascendancy but any thoughts the tie was done and dusted were nearly silenced when their goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller had to fingertip away Fernandinho's cross-shot shortly before half-time.
And Shakhtar came out all guns blazing after the interval, with Luiz Adriano firing across Weidenfeller and inches wide of the target. They were leaving themselves open at the other end, although the 1996-97 winners of this competition were grateful for a sloppy piece of keeping from Pyatov to go further ahead.
Ilkay Gundogan's strike from the edge of the area was straight at Pyatov but he spilled the ball, allowing Blaszczykowski to steal in, skip past the keeper and tap in from close range in the 59th minute. Shakhtar's keeper would redeem himself slightly with an excellent full-length diving save to tip away a curling effort from substitute Kevin Grosskreutz as Dortmund easily progressed.
Source: PA
