There were Black and Yellow celebrations after the final whistle as Borussia Dortmund's B-Juniors secured the West German Championship for the third year in a row thanks to an 8-2 (5-1) win over Düsseldorf on the last matchday, thus qualifying for the final stage of the German Championship. They will face VfB Stuttgart in the last four.

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After coach Benjamin Hoffmann's charges missed the chance to secure pole position in the title race following a 2-2 draw against Duisburg in the last away match of the campaign, the league leaders made sure of their triumph by beating Fortuna Düsseldorf in highly impressive fashion in Brackel on early Sunday afternoon.

"There was a lot of disappointment about the draw in Duisburg. You could sense the team had an uncontrollable will to win this time. The lads didn't want to see the title pinched from right under their noses," said a delighted Dortmund coach, who was soaked through after receiving an ice cube shower, of the 8-2 (5-1) victory his team had achieved in blistering heat. Closest challengers Bayer Leverkusen, who won (5-0) at bottom club Siegen as expected, finished the season two points behind the first-placed Black and Yellows.

However, there was little time to celebrate the title in fitting and exuberant fashion. The small victory party that had been prepared in the event of a Borussia win in Duisburg a week earlier was now conducted in a rather more spontaneous and low-key manner.

From Monday the squad's entire focus will shift to the final stages of the German Championship. As Western champions BVB will travel to South/South Western champions VfB Stuttgart, who leapfrogged rivals Bayern Munich into top spot thanks to a 3-2 victory on the final day of the season, for the semi-final first leg at 18:00 CET on Wednesday. Western runners-up Bayer Leverkusen will host North/North Eastern champions VfL Wolfsburg at the same time. The returns legs will be held on Sunday, with BVB playing at 11:00 CET in Brackel. If Borussia emerge victorious over VfB, they will have home advantage for the final in the Rote Erde stadium on 19 June.

Doubts and concerns surrounding a Western title hat-trick were rapidly put to bed by Hofmann's XI, who went ahead through Dominik Wanner in the second minute. Shortly afterwards central defender Luca Kilian headed home from a precise Beste corner. Fortuna hardly knew what had hit them. Hüseyin Bulut and another from Wanner furthered the lead, before an own goal added a fifth. After 17 minutes it was 5-0 - a truly masterly performance. Although any tension had evaporated by this point, BVB continued in the same vein after making a couple of minor defensive mistakes and could have won by a higher margin.

BVB: Schragl – Schulte (Stuhldreier, 49'), Kilian, Sechelmann (Topcu, 61'), Beste – Schwermann, Yilma – Kopacz, Bulut (Blanco Lopez, 49'), Wanner – Aydinel (Exner, 61').
Goals: 1-0 Wanner (2'), 2-0 Kilian (4'), 3-0 Bulut (12'), 4-0 Wanner (16'), 5-0 own goal (17'), 5-1 (28'), 6-1 Kopacz (45'). 7-1 Kilian (59'), 7-2 (68'), 8-2 Wanner (80').
Text and photo: Klaus-Peter Ludewig, Ruhr Nachrichten