体坛英语新闻：Dortmund close in on title after beating Bayern 1-0

BERLIN, April 11 (Xinhua) -- Defending champion Borussia Dortmund made a big stride towards the title of this season's Bundesliga with an effective 1-0 win over its main rival Bayern Munich on Wednesday.

Robert Lewandowski scored in the 77th minute and goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller saved a penalty from Arjen Robben to leave Dortmund six points clear of Bayern with four games remaining.

"Dortmund are 99 percent certain to be champions," acknowledged Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge after the match.

More than 450,000 fans applied for tickets for Dortmund's likely title decider with Bayern, which had been billed by German media as "the game of games."

Weidenfeller missed the ball and brought Robben down in the penalty area in the 85th, giving the chance to level the match for the visiting team, but the Dortmund goalkeeper guessed the right way to deny the Dutchman a minute later.

"I think in the last three years I've taken 10 or 11 penalties and converted them all," Robben said. "That's the first I missed, and at such a time. It's bitter."

Elsewhere, third-place Schalke was unable to take advantage of Bayern's loss by slumping to a 4-1 defeat at Nuremberg, Hoffenheim routed Hamburger SV 4-0, Hannover beat Wolfsburg 2-0 in a battle to qualify for Europe, and bottom side Kaiserslautern is almost certainly relegated after losing 3-1 at Bayer Leverkusen.