Borussia Dortmund won its eighth straight away match to beat Nuremberg 2-0 yesterday and extend its lead in the Bundesliga to 10 points.

Mats Hummels and Robert Lewandowski scored in each half to secure Dortmund’s victory.

Earlier, Bayer Leverkusen beat Cologne 3-2 to move within a point of second-place Mainz.

Leverkusen’s Patrick Helmes opened the scoring in the 21st minute and teammates Tranquillo Barnetta and Stefan Reinartz added goals in the second half.

Pedro Geromel scored for Cologne in the first half and Martin Lanig notched the second in the 65th, one minute after coming off the bench. Lanig then missed Cologne’s best chance to clinch a draw.

Cologne stayed next-to-last.

With Mainz losing 2-1 at Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday, Dortmund was already assured of spending the winter break on top of the standings. There are two more rounds to play before the break.

Bayern Munich all but lost hope of defending the title by going down 2-0 at Schalke.

“I think it’s over,” Bayern coach Louis van Gaal said after the loss.

Captain Philipp Lahm was also downbeat about his side’s title hopes.

“We should not be talking about the championship any more. We should concentrate on reaching a Champions League place,” Lahm said.

Bayern is seventh, 17 points behind Dortmund.

Dortmund defender Hummels scored with a diving header after 23 minutes in Nuremberg, sneaking behind the defense at a set-piece.

Lewandowski then finished one of Dortmund’s best moves in the 88th.

Dortmund has 40 points, having won 13 of its 15 matches.

In Leverkusen, Geromel connected with a floating free kick from Lukas Podolski to drive the ball inside the post, leveling the score after Helmes had knocked in the rebound after a shot was punched out by goalkeeper Faryd Mondragon.

Barnetta scored in the 55th, after Sidney Sam had cleverly let the ball pass into space. Six minutes later, Reinartz scored Leverkusen’s third, following through to head in a shot that had bounced off the crossbar after a header from Manuel Friedrich.

Lanig cut the gap with a goal after receiving a good pass from Podolski. But a few minutes later, Lanig blasted high over the bar from three meters out at the far post.