Berlin, Jan 26 (IANS): Jakub Blaszczykowski's brace smoothed the uncontested 3-0 win for Borussia Dortmund over Nuremberg to conquer second position at the opener of the 19th round of Germany's premier football league Bundesliga.

Polish internationals Blaszczykowski and Robert Lewandowski wrapped up Dortmund's win against Nuremberg Friday to reduce Bayern Munich's lead on top of the standings to nine points, reports Xinhua.

The defending champions took the reins, as expected, at the start. Still Nuremberg nearly caught the hosts flat-footed when Tomas Pekhart's and Markus Feulner's promising chances were defused by Dortmund goalie Roman Weidenfeller.

A few minutes later Dortmund opened the scoring as Nuremberg's Timo Gebhardt was penalised for a supposed foul play to Lukasz Piszczek inside the box. His teammate Blaszczykowski stepped up to convert the penalty from the spot, 18 minutes into the match.

"Kuba" sealed his brace only three minutes later when he utilised Mario Goetze's assist to make it two on the scoreboard.

Dortmund controlled the proceedings but their poor finish spared Nuremberg a goal spree. The visitors showed vital signs at the hour mark when Pekhart and Feulner tried to threaten Dortmund's defence.

Dortmund were not done with the scoring as Lewandowski marked the final 3-0 score in the 88th minute to inflict Nuremberg the eighth loss of the season.