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Dortmund clinch German league title

Argentinian striker Lucas Barrios celebrates Dortmund's opening goal in the 2-0 win over Nuremburg.
Argentinian striker Lucas Barrios celebrates Dortmund's opening goal in the 2-0 win over Nuremburg.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Borussia Dortmund seal first Bundesliga title since 2002 with 2-0 victory over Nuremburg
  • Bayer Leverkusen loss at Cologne gives Dortmund unassailable eight point lead
  • Leverkusen guaranteed automatic Champions League qualification after Hanover lose
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(CNN) -- Borussia Dortmund have been crowned Bundesliga champions after a 2-0 win against Nuremburg at the Signal Iduna Park stadium on Saturday.

First-half goals from Paraguay striker Lucas Barrios in the 32nd minute and Polish striker Robert Lewandowski two minutes before the break ensured Dortmund's first league success since 2002 and their seventh in total.

"I'm just happy. I had thought it would feel different, more euphoric, but maybe that comes later," Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp said afterwards, AFP reported.

"The team has achieved extraordinary things, set high standards and handled every pressure situation very well. What these young guys have achieved is hard to put into words," added the 43-year-old Klopp, AFP reported.

The title was confirmed after second-placed Bayer Leverkusen lost 2-0 at Cologne leaving the Dortmund eight points clear with just two league matches remaining.

Two second-half strikes from Cologne's Slovenian striker Milivoje Novakovic stunned Leverkusen as they looked to prolong their battle at the top after Dortmund had suffered a shock defeat at relegation-threatened Borussia Moenchengladbach last weekend.

Leverkusen have the consolation of knowing they have almost secured the second automatic Champions League qualifying spot after Hannover were beaten 1-0 at home by Moenchengladbach.

Hannover now trail Leverkusen by seven points while Moenchengladbach still retain a faint hope of avoiding relegation after recording their second successive league win.

Bayern Munich's 4-1 victory over Schalke in the late Saturday kickoff means they move above Hannover to third place in the table.

Arjen Robben opened the scoring for the 2010 champions after six minutes, but Schalke were back on level terms almost immediately when Badstuber scored an own goal.

Thomas Muller put Bayern back in front five minutes later and Mario Gomez added a third before 20 minutes was on the clock.

Muller scored his second of the match in the 84th minute to take Bayern's goal difference for the season to plus 33 compared to Hannover's three.

Mainz are in fifth place after a comfortable 3-0 win over 10-man Eintracht Frankfurt.

All the goals came in the first half -- one from Croatian midfielder Andreas Ivanschitz and two from Colombian Elkin Soto -- strengthening their hold on a Europa League qualifying place.

Frankfurt remain third from bottom with 34 points.

But fellow strugglers Stuttgart are almost guaranteed top-flight football next season after beating Hoffenheim 2-1.

The win moves the 2007 champions up to 12th place.

Freiburg moved ahead of Hamburg after beating them 2-0 at the Imtech Arena, both goals coming from Senegalese striker Papiss Cisse.