Bayern Munich outclassed their title rivals Borussia Dortmund 3-1 away on Saturday to go four points clear at the top of the Bundesliga and stretch their perfect run under Jupp Heynckes.

Arjen Robben’s superb left-foot effort put them ahead in the 17th minute and Robert Lewandowski added a second when he flicked in with a backheel for his 11th goal of the season.

David Alaba’s intended cross ended up in the back of the net in the 67th minute to seal the win before Marc Bartra grabbed a late goal for Dortmund.

It was Bayern’s seventh straight in all competitions since Heynckes took over following the departure of Carlo Ancelotti, while Dortmund are in freefall, suffering their third defeat in their last four league games.

The 72-year-old Heynckes said he could not have predicted how quickly Bayern’s fortunes would have turned around since.

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“The team were 100 per cent motivated, we absolutely wanted to win,” Heynckes said.

“It’s a compliment to my team. Taken altogether it was a superb performance. Four weeks ago you couldn’t have foreseen we’d be six points clear of Dortmund and four clear of Leipzig now.”

Bayern defender Mats Hummels said: “It wouldn’t be a problem in our eyes if the race for the championship title were boring, but I don’t believe it will be. The tide might turn over the course of two or three matches, so we have to keep performing. But of course we’re very delighted with how our matches under Jupp Heynckes have gone so far.”

The match lived up to its billing with an entertaining first half and with Bayern gradually taking control. They constantly worked their way into the box and Dortmund’s Bartra was no match for the speedy winger Kingsley Coman, who left the Spaniard in his wake.

Robben completed a fine move with a trademark shot to become Bayern’s all-time top foreign scorer with his 93rd league goal. The hosts should have scored but were again let down by bad finishing as Andriy Yarmolenko failed to convert when one-on-one with the Bayern keeper Sven Ulreich, while Shinji Kagawa scraped the post with a shot later on.

Instead it was Bayern who struck again with Lewandowski flicking in a Joshua Kimmich cutback in the 37th minute and Alaba’s cross floating past the Poland striker and keeper Roman Bürki into the net. Bartra’s 88th-minute goal was purely cosmetic, with pressure on the Dortmund manager, Peter Bosz, now mounting considerably.

“We gave Bayern too much space inside the penalty area for their goals,” Bosz said. “That can’t be allowed to happen.

“There’s still a long way left to go this season to close the gap in the table. My team showed at the start of the season that we can play good football, as we did in the second period.”