Dortmund crush hosts Freiburg 4-1 in hunt for top four finish

FREIBURG, Germany :Borussia Dortmund crushed hosts Freiburg 4-1 in the Bundesliga on Saturday to climb into eighth spot as the Ruhr valley club chase a top four finish and a spot in next season's Champions League, with six games left to play.

Dortmund enjoyed a strong dress rehearsal ahead of next week's Champions League quarter-final first leg against Barcelona followed by their league game against leaders Bayern Munich.

"This is what we wanted to do against a tough opponent," said Dortmund coach Niko Kovac. "It is important not on only for the table but to go into the next week with a positive result. We have to win our games regardless of what the others will do."

Dortmund are on 41 points, five behind fourth spot, the last to grant automatic Champions League qualification for next season.

"After Barcelona, the next tough game is in Munich. Bayern want to win the title. We are on a right track but we need to keep being focused. It makes no sense to celebrate after today."

Dortmund took the lead through Karim Adeyemi in the 34th minute and added three more after the break in a dominant second half.

Carney Chukwuemeka's deflected effort in the 51st made it 2-0 in his first league start for Dortmund before Serhou Guirassy added another 17 minutes later with an easy tap-in.

Jamie Gittens's header made it 4-0 and Maximilian Eggestein bagged a late consolation goal for the hosts in the 88th.