In-form Arjen Robben and fellow two-goal men Thomas Müller and Mario Götze brilliantly led the charge as Bayern chalked up a thumping Bundesliga victory at home to longstanding northern rivals Hamburg on Saturday. The win, Bayern’s biggest in the league for 30 years and Hamburg’s heaviest-ever top flight defeat, means the Bavarians maintain their eight-point lead in the standings and will now travel with supreme confidence to the Champions League Round of 16 first leg away to Shakhtar Donetsk in three days’ time.
The 75,000 full house at the Allianz Arena saw the home team blast into a two-goal lead with a double whammy from Thomas Müller and Mario Götze midway through the one-sided first half. Robben cracked a trademark third before half-time and increased his personal tally to two with FCB’s fourth a couple of minutes into the second period, before Müller also curled home his second of the day and Robert Lewandowski made it a half-dozen before the hour was up. Sub Franck Ribery marked his return from injury with the seventh 20 minutes from time,
With Wolfsburg edging an extraordinary 5-4 win at Leverkusen, the result in Munich sees FCB retain their eight-point lead over the Wolves at the top of the standings, where Pep Guardiola’s men have amassed 52 points from 21 fixtures. The Reds now travel to Lviv for the meeting with Shakhtar on Tuesday before returning to league action away to Paderborn next Saturday afternoon.
Holger returns
Guardiola made three changes to the team that won 2-0 in Stuttgart last week, with Bastian Schweinsteiger, Rafinha and Holger Badstuber in for Xabi Alonso (hamstring), Mitch Weiser and Dante (both among the subs). Badstuber played for the first time since Matchday 3, while Ribery celebrated his return to squad duty after injury.
The home team started with Manuel Neuer in goal, Rafinha, Mehdi Benatia, Badstuber and Juan Bernat in defence, Schweinsteiger and David Alaba in central midfield, and Robben, Müller, Götze and Lewandowski in attack.
One-sided first period
After seasoned match official Michael Weiner whistled play underway, the visitors enjoyed a brief and energetic early flurry before Guardiola’s men assumed control. HSV keeper Jaroslav Drobny threw out a leg to deny Müller, before Götze and Müller again came close with half-chances.
The home team kept up the pressure and had the lead on 21 minutes after Götze’s cross struck Swiss defender Johan Djourou on the hand, Weiner pointed to the spot and Müller sent Drobny the wrong way with his penalty.
And it got better just two minutes later when the marauding Müller fired in a left-footed cross from the edge of the box, Drobny diverted the ball to his right, and the onrushing Götze forced the ball through the keeper’s flailing arms and into the net.
The pace dropped a little now but the home team were always dangerous when they moved the ball at speed, and Robben made it three in the 35th minute with a classic curling drive in off the upright from outside the box after a turbocharged burst down the middle.
HSV picked apart
FCB and the irresistible Robben needed just two minutes of the second half to extend their lead, the Dutchman firing home at Drobny’s near post to make it 4-0 with a rare right-footed effort. The Reds refused to relinquish the momentum and Hamburg were torn apart again in a blistering 60-second spell after 55 minutes, Müller elegantly curling home the fifth from Schweinsteiger’s lay-off and Lewandowski tapping home from close range to make it half-a-dozen after Robben and Müller combined down the right.
Ribery and Gianluca Gaudino now replaced Benatia and Müller, but the champions were by no means done yet. Ribery was on hand to add the 69th-minute seventh with a low drive after Drobny could only parry Lewandowski’s effort, and sub Claudio Pizarro saw one of many decent half-chances pushed away by the HSV keeper. It was left to Götze to seal Bayern’s biggest league win in 30 years and Hamburg’s heaviest-ever defeat with a superb right-footed shot a couple of minutes from time.
Live match report for fcbayern.de by Chris Hamley
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