After the U19s had won their first game since completing the West German title hat-trick 2-1 away to Fortuna Düsseldorf, Borussia Dortmund's U17s all but wrapped up qualification for the German Championship finals themselves.

With BVB having beaten MSV Duisburg by a 4-0 scoreline and FC Schalke 04 having suffered a last-minute 3-2 defeat in their top match against Bayer Leverkusen, the Borussia U17s now boast a six-point lead over Schalke with two matches of the Bundesliga round remaining. On top of that, they have the significantly superior goal difference (61 goals versus 39). BVB will travel away to Borussia Mönchengladbach next Sunday. The big Bundesliga final against Schalke 04 will take place the following Saturday (27 April).

The Borussia U17s went about their business against MSV Duisburg in a serious and confident manner. The final scoreline read 4-0 in favour of BVB, whose goals came from Diego Ngambia Dzonga, Valon Cena, Fritz Fleck and Jan-Luca Riedl with a bit of help from MSV goalie Laurenz Jennissen.

The visitors proved themselves to be the "unpleasant opponents" that coach Marco Lehmann was expecting, almost man-marking the Dortmund lads and defending with great commitment but also making an impact via occasional counters. Especially in the opening stages, during which Mohammed Berrahou created a chance with some fine individual play and BVB goalkeeper Leon Herdes had to be on his guard to save a shot from Mirac Özgen 16 metres out (22).

After Diego Ngambia Dzonga had opened the scoring at 1-0 (18), Borussia's initially nervous play increasingly improved and became more purposeful. The second goal, which Valon Cena headed home following Ngambia's cross (32), weakened Duisburg's resistance and the match was finally decided when Justin Hoy beautifully set up Fritz Fleck to make it 3-0 (53). Jan Luca Riedl paved the way for the goal that made it 4-0 with a shot towards the near post and Duisburg's Jennissen unluckily helped the ball into his own net.

BVB's young central defenders Jan Luca Riedl and Luca Reggiani performed very well again, while the omnipresent Musssa Kaba and Tim Degener dominated the midfield and Diego Ngambia is increasingly settling into his stride following his long injury lay-off.

"We struggled in the first 20 minutes, but the second half was really good," said Marco Lehmann in summary. His team faces a tough away game against Borussia Mönchengladbach next Sunday, followed by the big Bundesliga final against Schalke 04 on Saturday 27 April.

BVB U17s: Herdes – Riedl, Reggiani, Feddersen (Nwofor, 75) – Cena (Mahjoubi, 65), Kaba, Degener, Fleck (Schwarz, 72), Hoy, Tazemeta (Wörsdörfer, 65) – Ngambia (Etcibasi, 65)

Exuberant celebrations follow 2-1 victory

After SC Verl had already helped BVB to a premature West German Championship title courtesy of a surprise 2-1 victory against Bayer Leverkusen during the week, Mike Tullberg's boys initially really struggled against a highly motivated Düsseldorf team.

Siwoo Yang fired Fortuna into an early lead after a series of errors by Dortmund (2). "We didn't make a good start to the game but it also wasn't easy for the lands and it was a thankless task to have to immediately concentrate on the Bundesliga again after winning the title on the sofa," commented Mike Tullberg. Even though all the signs pointed towards some major celebrations, Tullberg became a little louder at half-time and approached half-time team talk very clearly. In addition, he opted to make three personnel changes.

Although BVB did not produce any great footballing highlights in the second half, the team deserved plenty of praise for their fighting spirit and performance. "The team fought back and turned the game around with great commitment. I liked that," said Tullberg. Substitute Charles Herrmann levelled the scores in the 56th minute and Danylo Krevsun produced a real show of strength to score the goal to seal the 2-1 victory.

Everyone went wild in the dressing room after the final whistle. "I've rarely seen a team celebrate so exuberantly," revealed Mike Tullberg. The festivities continued until late into the evening. Things will only get serious again from Wednesday onwards. Then Tullberg will start the preparations for the remaining Bundesliga games and the final round of the German Championship, which will get under way for BVB on Thursday 16 May (18:30 CET) with a home game against the champions of the Bundesliga Nord/Nordost.

BVB U19s: Lisewski, Rashidi (Posadas, 46), Benkara (Adamczyk, 46), Kabar, Korzynietz – Wätjen, Lubach – Duranville (Diallo, 60), Krevsun, Campbell (Herrmann, 46) – Brunner (Ubani, 84)

(wiwi)