Created on 27-01-2009 at 00:00 AM
DFB Cup holders Bayern cruised into the quarter-finals of this season’s competition with an emphatic and utterly convincing 5-1 triumph over outclassed south German rivals Stuttgart on Tuesday.
A 55,500 full house at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Stuttgart saw Bastian Schweinsteiger and Franck Ribery fire FCB into a two-goal lead with barely quarter of an hour played, although Ribery blotted his copybook midway through the first half with an over-casual effort from the penalty spot. The miss was to prove of little consequence, as the visitors still turned round three goals to the good courtesy of Luca Toni’s strike two minutes from the interval.
The exhibition continued in the second half, Schweinsteiger adding a fourth from the spot ten minutes after the restart, before Ze Roberto made it 5-0 with half an hour still to play. Mario Gomez pulled one back six minutes from time, but the goal will have been scant consolation to the home side on an evening when the cup holders were superior in every department.
The men from Munich will now be brimming with confidence when they travel to Hamburg on Friday for the fixture officially marking the resumption of Bundesliga hostilities after the mid-season break.