Classy Bayern hit form
Bayern Munich coach Jupp Heynckes hailed his team's 'classy' display as they hammered Hoffenheim 7-1 to trim Borussia Dortmund's lead at the top of the German league to five points.
Germany striker Mario Gomez, the league's top-scorer with 21 goals in 24 games, scored a hat-trick while Dutch winger Arjen Robben netted twice as Hoffenheim were humiliated at Munich's Allianz Arena.
With Bayern licking their wounds from last weekend's 2-0 defeat at Leverkusen, midweek reports had suggested Heynckes will quit at the end of the season although he later insisted he will see out the 15 months on his contract.
Bayern responded to the pressure by blitzing Hoffenheim with five goals in 30 minutes during a devastating first-half performance and the victory cut Dortmund's lead after the champions were held 0-0 at Augsburg.
"Overall, it was a classy performance," said Heynckes, whose team now need to over-turn a 1-0 deficit in Tuesday's last 16 second-leg tie against FC Basel in the Champions League.
"The way we made our goals was straight out of the textbook, it was a joy to watch. We built up a real head of steam. By contrast with the match in Leverkusen, we made the most of our chances.
"We were totally focused and we closed down the space, fought for possession and played really good football too."
Heynckes was boosted by the return from injury of Bastian Schweinsteiger after a month-long absence with torn ankle ligaments.
Robben said victory gave the Bavarians a much-needed shot of confidence.
"We really enjoyed ourselves," he said. "That's how it always has to be and that's how we should carry on. We should never be playing any differently from that.
"A win like that boosts your confidence, but in terms of the title, we'll have to wait and see.
"All we can do is win our matches. We can't do any more than that."
While Bayern were blasting Hoffenheim, Dortmund were denied a ninth straight win, but the draw in Augsburg was their 19th match without defeat to equal their best record for 20 years.
Dortmund came up against an Augsburg team battling relegation and the valuable point moved the hosts up to 15th and out of the relegation places.
"We had to put in a lot of work, but with some luck we could have even taken it," said Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp after seeing midfielder Kevin Grosskreutz hit the post with a header.
"Nevertheless, we have earned only a point and Augsburg fought passionately."
RESULTS
FC Cologne 1 (Clemens 36)
Hertha Berlin 0
VfL Wolfsburg 3 (Helmes 32, Dejagah 45, Kadlec 61-og) Bayer Leverkusen 2 (Kiessling 3, Derdiyok 90+1)
M'gladbach 0 SC Freiburg 0
Bayern Munich 7 (Gomez 5, 35, 48, Robben 12-pen, 29, Kroos 18, Ribery 58) Hoffenheim 1 (Luiz Gustavo 85-og)
Mainz 05 2 (Mueller 2, Zidan 22) Nuremberg 1 (Didavi 64)
Augsburg 0 Dortmund 0
Comments