Borussia Dortmund's U19s celebrated a 3-0 triumph in the derby against Schalke 04 and showed themselves to be in good form ten days before the first final round of the German Championship. In beating their rivals, BVB reached the magic number of 70 points, which no team has ever reached since the foundation of the Bundesliga West.

"It's outstanding. The boys deserve the utmost respect for it," said Mike Tullberg, in praise of his team's performance in the derby: "We put in a great performance in the first half against a strong opposition. Schalke were better in the first 20 minutes after the break, but then we took control again and deserved to win."

Mike Tullberg was without the injured Filippo Mane and Vincenzo Onofrietti, but Tyler Meiser made his comeback in the first half after a long injury lay-off. Kjell Wätjen, who made a high-profile debut for the first team against FC Augsburg, was also absent. "That makes us proud and is another accolade for the academy," commented Tullberg, who had brought Jaden Korzynietz into the midfield to replace Kjell Wätjen.

Cole Campbell was the derby hero of the day. The Icelander, who has recently started playing for the USA U19s, gave BVB a 1-0 lead in the fifth minute with a spectacular lob and set up Alex Niziolek for the second goal in the 80th minute. The third goal was scored by Paris Brunner.

Taycan Etcibasi makes his U19 debut 

The game started just as BVB wanted. Almugera Kabar made a clever run down the left flank to create space for Cole Campbell, who got the better of Schalke goalkeeper Yusufu after playing a fine one-two with Paris Brunner. The Black & Yellows dominated the first half, did not allow a hard-working Schalke side any chances on goal and could have extended their lead considerably. Rafael Lubach missed the target in the 34th minute, as did Paris Brunner later on, both after strong build-up work by Campbell and the switched-on Yusufu.

After the break, the visitors came out of the dressing room with much more determination and created several opportunities to score. However, the passionate Dortmund defence, marshalled by Lisewski, stood in their way. BVB gradually regained their dominance from the first half and struck again in the closing stages. First Alex Niziolek netted after being set up by Cole Campbell's solo run and precise pass to make it 2-0, then Paris Brunner extended it to 3-0 after William Rashidi broke through on the right and crossed into the centre.

Former Schalke player Taycan Etcibasi, who made only a brief appearance in the U17 championship semi-final in Leipzig, made his debut for Borussia U19s after coming on as a substitute. The only downer from the day: Jaden Korzynietz was ruled out with an injury in the 57th minute and is in danger of missing the semi-final clash against Hertha BSC.

BVB will conclude the Bundesliga season with a trip to SC Paderborn on Saturday (11 May).  (wiwi)

BVB: Lisewski – Rashidi (88, Rahmann), Meiser (46, Adamczyk), Posadas, Kabar – Lubach, Korzynietz (56, Etcibasi) – Herrmann (46, Niziolek), Krevsun (88, Ubani), Campbell – Brunner.