Borussia Dortmund 3 Shakhtar Donetsk 0: Borussia Dortmund cruised into the quarter-finals of the Champions League with an eye-catching win over Shakhtar Donetsk at the Westfalenstadion.

Felipe Santana put them firmly on course for the next round with a thumping header after 31 minutes.

Mario Gotze touched home Robert Lewandowski’s cross shortly afterwards, while Jakub Blaszczykowski all but made sure of Dortmund’s passage just before the hour to underlie their credentials as one of the favourites for glory in this year’s competition.

They nearly took the lead with their first real sight at goal.

Lewandowski latched on to Gotze’s pass to go clean through but the Pole was foiled by Andrei Pyatov’s legs.

To grow

Sven Bender’s drive from distance sailed harmlessly over before Shakhtar reminded Dortmund of their attacking prowess when Alex Teixeira’s teasing free-kick into the area produced a hesitant clearance from Marcel Schmelzer.

While fellow Brazilian Fernandinho poked wide from the edge of the area, the visitors fell behind in the 31st minute.

Santana leapt above his marker to head home Marco Reus’ corner at the near post, with Shakhtar defender Razvan Rat failing to clear though positioned on the line.

Jurgen Klopp’s men continued to pour forward and were rewarded with their second of the evening six minutes later.

Lewandowski burst down the right and his low cross was tickled goalwards by Gotze, with the ball taking a deflection off a Shakhtar defender before nestling into the net.

Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller had to fingertip away Fernandinho’s cross-shot shortly before half-time.

Inches wide

And Shakhtar came out all guns blazing after the interval, with Luiz Adriano firing across Weidenfeller and just inches wide.

Dortmund availed of a sloppy piece of goalkeeping from Andrei Pyatov to go further ahead. Ilkay Gundogan’s strike from the edge of the area was straight at Pyatov but he spilled the ball to Blaszczykowski who stole in, rounded the keeper to tap home and seal the tie.