Borussia Dortmund bounced straight back from a home defeat to Hamburg last week by seeing off fourth-placed Eintracht Frankfurt yesterday, despite playing with 10 men for the second week in a row.
Marco Reus single-handedly dismantled the Eagles with a hat-trick for the defending German champions, who move back to second place and within 15 points of the runaway league leaders Bayern Munich.
Bayern beat Wolfsburg 2-0 away from home on Friday.
Germany international Reus netted two goals in as many first-half minutes before adding a third midway through the second half after Julian Schieber had been given his marching orders.
Frankfurt also ended the game with 10 men after Takashi Inui saw red in the 74th minute, compounding a disappointing evening for Armin Veh’s men.
Dortmund were quick out of the blocks with Reus putting the Westphalians in front thanks to a fine pass from Mario Goetze to pick him out inside the penalty area.
The Westfalenstadion was still celebrating that goal when Reus made it two, slotting the ball inside the right-hand post with Mats Hummels the provider.
Dortmund did not appear to have learnt from the reverse fixture, which they also led 2-0 before only drawing 3-3, and they lifted their foot off the accelerator.
They then lost Schieber to two yellow cards in just four minutes as he followed the example of the man he replaced, the suspended Robert Lewandowski, by heading for an early bath on the half-hour mark.
The red card seemed to drive a point home for Dortmund, who raised their guard in preparation for a Frankfurt onslaught.
That did not materialise, however, and Goetze and Reus combined once again in the 65th minute to put the result beyond doubt.
Frankfurt then lost Inui to a second yellow card as he tugged Hummels’s shirt.
Earlier in the afternoon, striker Stefan Kiessling scored one goal and set up the other as Bayer Leverkusen beat Augsburg 2-1 to go temporarily second in the standings.
Kiessling headed in a Gonzalo Castro free-kick in the 26th minute, to join Bayern Munich’s Mario Mandzukic as top scorer with 15 goals this season.
The forward, who has been regularly snubbed by Germany coach Joachim Loew, then set up Lars Bender in the 77th to lift third-placed Leverkusen to 41 points with their first win in four games.
Sascha Moelders grabbed a deserved goal for the visitors in the 89th but it came too late.
Bastos saves Schalke
Champions League competitors Schalke had new signing Michel Bastos to thank for a 2-2 draw at Mainz.
The Brazilian twice cancelled out a Mainz lead including his 82nd minute equaliser for his third goal since joining in the winter transfer window.
Schalke are in eighth place on 30 points after winning just one of their last 11 games.
Hamburg moved into contention for a European spot, beating Borussia Moenchengladbach 1-0 courtesy of Rafael van der Vaart’s first goal in five months.
The Dutchman thundered in from 25 metres into the top corner to snap his five-month goal drought and lift his team to sixth on 34.