Borussia Dortmund saw their slim hopes of clinching a UEFA Europa League spot further dashed in a 3-1 defeat at Borussia Monchengladbach in a Bundesliga match on Saturday.

Dortmund came into the match looking to bounce back from a 1-0 loss to Bayern Munich last weekend, but met an inspired display from Patrick Herrmann as Monchengladbach fortified their hold on third spot on the table.

Herrmann was involved in the opening two goals for Monchengladbach, combining well with Raffael before setting up Fabian Johnson whose shot was parried by Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Weindenfeller to Oscar Wendt’s path, with the Swede scoring the rebound after 28 seconds.

After seeing Henrikh Mkhitaryan go close for Dortmund, Monchengladbach extended their lead just after the half-hour mark through Raffael who tapped in after being set up by Herrmann.

Shinji Kagawa was guilty of missing two good goalscoring opportunities and his profligacy was punished when Harvard Nordtveit hooked in the third for Monchengladbach after 67 minutes.

Ilkay Gundogan pulled one back for Dortmund 10 minutes later but Lucian Favre’s Monchengladbach held on to claim another impressive win.

Elsewhere in the Bundesliga on Saturday, leaders Bayern Munich prepared for their UEFA Champions League quarterfinal first leg against FC Porto with an easy 3-0 win at home to Eintracht Frankfurt.

An injury depleted Bayern squad saw Pep Guardiola hand Pepe Reina a start in goal as Manuel Neuer was rested, while Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery were among the injured absentees as the Bavarians started with just four players on the bench.

Nonetheless, Frankfurt offered little trouble for Bayern as Lewandowski scored a goal in each half while Thomas Müller added a third in the closing stages.

In other matches, Bayer Leverkusen held off a late rally from FSV Mainz 05 to claim a 3-2 win and remain two points behind Monchengladbach while Schalke 04 fell 10 points behind Leverkusen after a goalless draw with Freiburg.