Seven Bayern players in goal fest against Armenia, Lewy outstanding in San Marino

Back to top spot with a strong Bayern contingent: Germany celebrated a convincing 6-0 win against Armenia on Sunday night thanks to a brace from Serge Gnabry plus two assists from Leon Goretzka, the other goals were scored by Marco Reus, Timo Werner, Jonas Hofmann and Karim Adeyemi.

"Our conversion of chances was better and we were good in front of goal today. We did miss some chances where we might have scored a few more goals. At the end of the day, we went ahead early on and the game went our way," was the assessment of double goalscorer Gnabry after the match.

Six Bayern players in line-up

In his first home game as Germany's coach, Hansi Flick included six FCB players in his starting eleven with Gnabry and Goretzka joined by Niklas Süle, Joshua Kimmich, Leroy Sané as well as the captain Manuel Neuer in goal. Ahead of kick-off, the latter was honoured for a century of international appearances along with the sidelined Thomas Müller (groin). Jamal Musiala came off the bench on the hour mark.

Gnabry's wonder strike opens the scoring

With just six minutes on the clock, Goretzka put Gnabry through in the Armenian penalty area with a delightful chip. The winger chanced his luck and hammered the ball into the top corner. Less than 10 minutes later, Gnabry doubled the lead (15') from a diagonal ball from Dortmund's Reus. Shortly after that, Sané (22') hit the bar with a powerful shot from 20 yards out before Reus made it 3-0 (35').

 

 

Werner (44') rounded off an outstanding first half with an impressive pass from Kimmich to Goretzka who provided a second assist for the 26-year-old. In the second half, Hofmann (52') scored following a Kimmich corner to put Germany 5-0 up before debutant Adeyemi (88') netted the sixth.

World Cup qualification in own hands

The win sees Germany replace Arminia at the top of Group J and that puts World Cup qualification back in their own hands. Germany, with 12 points from five matches, are back in action on Wednesday away to fifth-placed Iceland (four points).

Lewandowski leads Poland to victory in San Marino

Poland secured a convincing 7-1 win away to San Marino led by their outstanding captain Robert Lewandowski. The 32 year-old international put his team on track for the runaway victory against the pointless side at the bottom of the table with two goals and an assist – and all that in just 45 minutes!

Lewandowski (4') opened the scoring early on. With the hosts failing to clear, he skilfully controlled the ball before tucking it into the net to make it 1-0 with Karol Swiderski (16') then doubling the lead. The Bayern striker made it 3-0 (21') before Karol Linetty (44') skilfully curled the ball into the net for the fourth goal.

Lewy gets a break after 45 minutes

After an impressive first half, Lewandowski was rested for the second with a substitution at half-time. San Marino managed to pull a goal back in the second 45 through Nicola Nanni (48') but Lewandowski's replacement Adam Buksa (67'/90+2'/90+4') netted a hat-trick for the visitors for a deserved 7-1 final scoreline.

The win sees Poland (10 points) maintain second place in Group I, which would put them in the play-offs for Qatar 2022. Wednesday night brings a top match in Warsaw against the leaders England who have yet to drop a point (15'). 

France, with Kingsley Coman, drew 1-1 in Ukraine on Saturday night.