Andrej Kramaric netted four goals as Borussia Dortmund’s campaign ended in a humiliating manner with a 4-0 thrashing by Hoffenheim.
It was the Croatian, rather than Dortmund forward Erling Haaland, who stole the show at Signal Iduna Park with a goal glut to ensure Hoffenheim finished sixth – good enough to qualify for the group stages of next season’s Europa League.
BVB were already assured of a second-placed finish, and they left Achraf Hakimi and Jadon Sancho on the bench until half-time, but they suffered a heavy loss just two days after it was confirmed boss Lucien Favre will be back next season.
Former Leicester City striker Kramaric scored twice before the break and added another two within five minutes of the restart to take his tally for the season to 12.
Favre’s men fell behind just eight minutes in as an unmarked Kramaric loitered at the edge of the box before curling home from Pavel Kaderabek’s pull-back.
More lax Dortmund defending saw them fall 2-0 behind on the half-hour mark as Robert Skov’s shot was turned in by Kramaric, who had been played onside by Lukasz Piszczek.
Favre called for Hakimi and Sancho at the break but it quickly went from bad to worse.
Mats Hummels twice failed to clear the ball and Piszczek had not accounted for Kramaric, who cut inside Dortmund’s captain and rolled a finish through Roman Burki’s legs for his hat-trick.
Moments later, Hoffenheim had a penalty, Hummels adjudged to have barged Munas Dabbur to the ground, with Kramaric squeezing a shot under Burki from the spot to give him a fourth of the afternoon.
Had it not been for Burki, the defeat could have been even heavier as he made smart stops to deny Dabbur, Skov and substitute Christoph Baumgartner.
For departing Dortmund midfielder Mario Gotze – only in the stands because he had been unable to take the required coronavirus tests to allow him to play – this was a farewell he was probably glad not to be part of.
