Kuba brace leads BVB past Nurnberg

BERLIN (AP)

Borussia Dortmund maintained its winning start to the new year with a 3-0 victory over Nurnberg in the Bundesliga on Friday.

BUNDESLIGA RESULTS

• Borussia Dortmund 3, Nurnberg 0
• Eintracht Frankfurt 2, Hoffenheim 1
• M'gladbach 2, Dusseldorf 1
• Greuther Fuerth 0, Mainz 3
• Hannover 2, Wolfsburg 1
• Augsburg 0, Schalke 04 0
• Freiburg 0, Leverkusen 0
• Hamburg 3, Werder Bremen 2
• Stuttgart 0, Bayern Munich 2
• Scores | Standings | Teams

Jakub "Kuba" Blaszczykowski converted a penalty in the 18th minute after Poland teammate Lukasz Piszczek fell easily under Timo Gebhart's challenge, and then made it 2-0 three minutes later thanks to Mario Goetze's cross.

Dortmund coach Juergen Klopp said his team was a bit fortunate to build the early lead.

''Nurnberg actually had the biggest chances, although it felt like we had 80 percent of the possession,'' Klopp said. ''If Roman Weidenfeller hadn't made two sensational saves, they would have gone ahead.''

Robert Lewandowski had a goal ruled out for offside before the break, and was denied by Nurnberg goalkeeper Raphael Schaefer 15 minutes into the second half.

The home side continued to waste chances, but Lewandowski finally scored with two minutes remaining, when Marco Reus found the Poland striker to unleash an unstoppable effort past Schaefer.

''The third goal put a different shine on the result for me,'' Nuremberg coach Michael Wiesinger said. ''We did very well up to then. We should have gone ahead and the penalty was questionable. ... A bitter defeat but it won't throw us off.''

Dortmund moved provisionally second on goal difference ahead of the rest of the weekend's games, nine points behind Bayern Munich.