Gabon star Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was happy to play Borussia Dortmund’s ‘superhero’ on Saturday by netting in their 3-0 home win over Schalke 04 in the Ruhr Valley derby.
Dortmund climbed to ninth in the table after picking up their fourth consecutive league win after starting February bottom of the table.
After wasting a string of chances, Dortmund got the breakthrough when Aubameyang pounced on a mistake in the visitors’ defence to roll the ball home on 78 minutes.
It was his fifth goal in as many league games and the 25-year-old celebrated by donning a ‘Batman’ hat, playing up to his ‘caped crusader’ nickname.
His teammate Marco Reus wore a ‘Robin’ mask to play his sidekick.
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“If you didn’t know who Batman and Robin were before, you do now,” joked Aubameyang.
It emerged Aubameyang’s translator Massimo Mariotti had hidden the costumes behind the Schalke goal.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan made it 2-0 just over a minute after Aubameyang’s goal when he slid home Ilkay Gundogan’s cross to claim his first goal of the season.
Reus, who had crashed a shot against the crossbar, fired wide and had a shot blocked in the first half, finally got on the scoresheet by poaching Borussia’s third on 86 minutes to score for the fifth match running in all competitions.
Schalke’s 19-year-old goalkeeper Timon Wellenreuther paused too long over a back-pass and Reus simply tapped the ball into the empty net behind the despairing teenager.
“That was the game of the year, you can’t have a better feeling during the season,” said Reus.
The defeat drops Schalke, who were missing several stars with injury, to fifth while neighbours Dortmund are now just eight points adrift of a Champions League place for next season.
“That was a fantastic afternoon for us. We worked hard for a deserved result,” said Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp.
“That was a perfect game from my team from the first to the last minute.”
Elsewhere, Bayer Leverkusen built on their shock Champions League win over Atletico Madrid on Wednesday with a 1-0 win at home to strugglers Freiburg to go fourth.
Veteran midfielder Simon Rolfes, who will retire at the end of the season, grabbed a first-half winner to give Leverkusen their first league win in four games.
Augsburg dropped to sixth after their 1-0 defeat at Hertha Berlin as ex-Chelsea striker Salomon Kalou scored a late winner at the Olympic Stadium to claim his sixth goal of the season.
Stuttgart stay bottom after their 1-1 draw at Hanover 96 while Hoffenheim are just two points short of the European places for next season after their 2-0 win at home to Mainz.
On Friday, Bayern Munich celebrated their 115th birthday with a 4-1 win over Cologne to go 11 points clear before second-placed Wolfsburg go to resurgent Werder Bremen on Sunday.
Arjen Robben netted his 17th goal in 19 league matches this season with a crisp header with 20 minutes left to remain the league’s top scorer.
Earlier, captain Bastian Schweinsteiger gave hosts Bayern an early lead at the Allianz Arena before Franck Ribery added a second inside 10 minutes.
Cologne fought back when Nigeria international Anthony Ujah scored right on the stroke of half-time but Bayern roared back as Robben then Poland striker Robert Lewandowski extended their lead.
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