Bayern Munich underlined their status as Bundesliga champions-in-waiting as Saturday’s 4-0 thrashing of Augsburg moved them 10 points clear at the top of the German league.
With second-placed VfL Wolfsburg playing SC Paderborn yesterday, Bayern seized the chance to extend their lead at third-placed Augsburg and remain on course for a third straight title.
Bayern, who started with Thomas Mueller and Mario Goetze on the bench, can further hammer home their superiority this week when they host SC Freiburg tomorrow before traveling to face Mainz on Friday in their last league match of the year.
Photo: AFP
“I am very, very proud, because I know how hard it is to win at Augsburg,” Bayern coach Pep Guardiola said.
“We were much more aggressive and combined quicker in the second-half. Once again, I am surprised by the mentality of these players, who have already won everything, but they always just want to win, win, win. We have two more games now this week which we’ll try to win,” he said.
After a goalless first-half, Bayern burst into life after the interval as Arjen Robben netted twice while Medhi Benatia and Robert Lewandowski were also on target.
Defender Benatia headed his first Bayern goal on 58 minutes, then Robben slotted his ninth in all competitions just two minutes later when he curled his shot in around the post.
Poland striker Lewandowski claimed their third when he fired home a final pass from captain Bastian Schweinsteiger on 68 minutes.
Robben added the fourth three minutes later as Augsburg’s defense capitulated.
Despite qualifying for the Champions League’s last 16, Borussia Dortmund dropped back into the relegation zone after slumping to a 1-0 defeat at Hertha BSC.
Dortmund’s ninth defeat in 15 league games — the most in Germany’s top flight — saw them drop to 16th from 14th having started the month at the bottom.
To rub salt into the wounds, Julian Schieber scored the first-half winner against his old club.
“We hear week after week that we are a great team, but this ‘awesome’ team also has awesome problems,” Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp said.
Klopp had to replace attacking midfielder Heinrikh Mkhitaryan, who injured his thigh, for Poland’s Jakob Blaszczkowski with 35 minutes gone.
Blaszczkowski lost possession in midfield, Norway’s Per Skjelbred pounced on the loose ball and fed Berlin striker Schieber, who fired home on 40 minutes.
Only Hanover 96’s 3-3 draw at Werder Bremen stopped Dortmund dropping to second from bottom.
Spanish striker Joselu scored twice for Hanover to claim four goals in his last three league games.
VfB Stuttgart remain bottom of the league despite picking up a valubale point with a 1-1 draw at mid-table FSV Mainz 05.
Having just scraped into the Champions League’s last 16 with a 1-0 win at Slovenia’s NK Maribor on Wednesday, Roberto di Matteo’s Schalke 04 slumped to a 2-1 defeat at home to Cologne.
Striker Anthony Ujah scored his fourth goal in five league games just after the break before midfielder Matthias Lehmann netted a penalty.
Teenage replacement Leroy Sane scored his first goal for Schalke by way of consolation on only the 18-year-old’s fourth league appearance as Schalke dropped to sixth.
Hamburg SV were held to a goalless draw at Freiburg with both teams just above the bottom three.
Yesterday, fourth-placed Bayer Leverkusen hosted Borussia Moenchengladbach with the visitors just one place behind in the league table.
On Friday, TSG 1899 Hoffenheim won 3-2 at Eintracht Frankfurt to stay seventh and just outside the European places for next season.
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