Borussia Monchengladbach 3 Borussia Dortmund 1

Borussia Dortmund's hopes of qualifying for Europe next season suffered a further setback as they were beaten 3-1 at Borussia Monchengladbach.

A week after going down at home to Bayern Munich, Jurgen Klopp's men were sent reeling to a second straight league defeat with Oscar Wendt, Raffael and Havard Nordtveit giving Gladbach a three-goal advantage.

Ilkay Gundogan pulled one back for the visitors, but it was merely a consolation which leaves the Westphalians languishing in mid-table with six games of the season remaining.

Gladbach, on the other hand, can start looking forward to Champions League football next season with victory strengthening their grip on a top-four finish with fifth-placed Schalke some distance behind.

Less than a minute had been played when Wendt gave Gladbach the lead, converting from 12 yards out after Roman Weidenfeller parried Fabian Johnson's effort.

Dortmund tried to respond, but they were faced with a well-drilled Gladbach side who were happy to adopt their favoured counter-attacking tactics, even in front of their own fans.

It worked to perfection with the second goal arriving after half an hour with Max Kruse picking the ball up deep and sending Patrick Herrmann on the way.

He raced past a host of Dortmund defenders before unselfishly squaring the ball to Raffael, who had a simple finish with Weidenfeller already taken out of the equation.

Gladbach almost added a third early in the second half when Herrmann drew a fine save out of Weidenfeller, but it was effectively game over for Dortmund midway through the second half when Kruse's corner found its way, via a few failed clearances, to Nordtveit, who turned the ball in from close range.

Jeremy Dudziak was sent on by Klopp for only his second appearance, with the Dortmund coach clearly accepting his side's defeat and testing out something new.

It proved to be an inspired choice as the full-back set up Gundogan to reduce the arrears with 13 minutes remaining.

Ciro Immobile was also given some playing time while Gladbach coach Lucien Favre handed Mahmoud Dahoud a debut in stoppage time, also giving Herrmann the chance to receive a standing ovation before the final whistle sounded.