From the start, the game was as one-sided as the final result (3-0) would later suggest – only completely the wrong way round. Those looking for tell-tale signs of the dreaded "Neverkusen" malaise, Leverkusen's proverbial inability to cope with pressure, were deeply disappointed: Jupp Heynckes's team approached their tricky away tie at Dortmund on Saturday night like true contenders. Bayer whipped up a storm of perfectly measured attacking football and threatened to blow the home team out of the sold-out Signal-Iduna-Park. Eighty-thousand fans were gasping at the sheer poise and precision of Bayer's midfielders, who carved out one opportunity after another. "We didn't stop their crosses, we didn't double up, we didn't win the second ball," said BVB's manager Jürgen Klopp.

Only one Dortmunder managed to keep up. The Borussia keeper Roman Weidenfeller, in decent form throughout the last few weeks, made the kind of improbable, incredibly well-timed saves you only ever see in spy movies, when the hero uncovers the baddies' masterplan for world destruction and burns it on to a USB stick within three seconds of the henchmen arriving. The 29-year-old was "outstanding, really, really good" in Klopp's words; good enough for a late ticket to the World Cup even? Weidenfeller certainly thought so. "I'm performing well for years but there hasn't been contact with the Germany coaching staff for a while," the keeper said with a sense of frustration. "The decision against me is hard to understand but I'll have to accept it." Jogi Löw's goalkeeping coach Andreas Köpke was a surprise absentee on Saturday. Maybe he couldn't bear the possibility of watching another blunder from Bayer's No1 Rene Adler, who's been so inexplicably poor in recent weeks that even Fabio Capello would probably not take him right now.

Stefan Kiessling and Eren Derdiyok squandered Bayer's best chances but went into half-time believing that the goals were inevitable. But they hadn't reckoned with Klopp's team-talk. Anonymous sources later spoke of "fissures in the dressing-room wall" (Süddeutsche Zeitung); "marked words were found," explained the captain Sebastian Kehl. Within 10 minutes of the second half, Bayer were totally overrun. Dortmund put in a shift of relentless pressing and harassed the visitors until they lost the ball. This was unsubtle, almost brutal forechecking, and it was devastating: the Borussia striker Lucas Barrios, who had hardly touched the ball, popped up to score a classic poacher's goal and followed through with a rather brilliant second, hit with the outside of the boot in full flight. The Egyptian fantasista Mohamed Zidan, a man in excellent shape since his trip to Wembley, had provided the killer pass. Shell-shocked Bayer were beaten before they knew it. Dimitar Rangelov added a third with three minutes to go to give the result a somewhat bizarre slant.

"One half, we were brilliant and should be two or three up. Then this happens," lamented Kiessling. "A curious match but not a disaster for us," was Heynckes's lenient verdict. He might be wrong. Leverkusen's title chances are still intact – they're only three points off first place after Bayern's mishap against Eintracht – but they'll have to start worrying about Dortmund's challenge from the rear now. The Nineties giants are only five points behind Bayer and don't have to play any big teams any more, while those above all play each other in the next few weeks. Dortmund are perfectly placed for a late assault on the third Champions League place.

Barrios can claim much of the credit. The 25-year-old has scored 15 goals in his first 19 Bundesliga games. "He's a goal machine, the best striker we have had since Stéphane Chapuisat," said the sporting director Michael Zorc. The Argentinian striker is still adjusting to life in the Ruhr area and talks less than Rudolph Valentino at his silent best. But the club don't mind. His phenomenal hit-rate combined with the modest transfer fee – Dortmund bought him for €4.25m (£3.82m) from Colo-Colo in the summer – leave no need for off-the-pitch self-expression.

Diego Maradona has proclaimed a distinct lack of interest in the predatory talents of "La Pantera" (the Panther), yet Barrios could still make it to the World Cup. His mum hails from Paraguay and he has a firm offer to play for them in June. "I will think about it," he said. Dortmund are in two minds about his possible breakthrough on the biggest stage. His value on the transfer market would continue to multiply but so would the suitors. "If there are any inquiries, I won't pass them on," vowed Zorc. His stock is very much up, in line with the Dortmund shares: the chance to qualify for Europe has seen investors pile in. The share was 5% up today. It's springtime, for Kloppo, and Westphalia. For the first time since going nearly bust in 2005, Dortmund are going places again.

Talking Points

• It wasn't quite the best Bundesliga goal never scored – that prize will forever belong to Hans-Günter Bruns – but easily the non-goal of this season, especially when you consider the context. Schalke were leading Hamburg 2-1 in the HSH Nordbank Arena and hugging the top spot in the league when this happened. Tomás Rincón's heroics allowed Hamburg to come back and Jonathan Pitroipa to equalise. Both Felix Magath and Bruno Labbadia declared themselves satisfied after the spectacular and phenomenally entertaining game but the Schalke coach might one day rue Rincón's horizontal expertise.

• Manchester United's scouts will have urged Sir Alex Ferguson to book the hotel rooms in Madrid after witnessing Bayern's first defeat after 19 Bundesliga matches and worst performance of the year on Saturday. Louis van Gaal's men were somehow winning 1-0 away to Frankfurt (a Miroslav Klose header) with four minutes to go before two horrendous mistakes from 17-year-old ersatz left-back David Alaba saw them collapse within 104 seconds. Yes Clive, it was just like that magical night in … (repeat for the next three weeks). Bayern stay top, but only just. "Our rivals can't cope with the pressure," Van Gaal claimed. That's perhaps the only thing his team have going for them at the moment.

• Dead cat's bounce or the begin of a miraculous comeback? No one knows but Hertha's 5-1 away win to champions Wolfsburg was certainly one of the most incongruous results of the season. A hat-trick from Greek mullet god Theofanis Gekas downed a Wolves side who hadn't fully recovered from beating Rubin Kazan in extra-time last Thursday.

Results: Köln 1–1 Gladbach, Dortmund3-0 Leverkusen, Frankfurt 2-1 Bayern, Freiburg 1-0 Mainz, Bremen 3-2 Bochum, Nürnberg 0-0 Hoffenheim, Stuttgart 2-0 Hannover, Hamburg 2-2 Schalke, Wolfsburg 1-5 Hertha.