Bayern wrap up winter title in style
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Serge Gnabry has scored a hat-trick while Robert Lewandowski equalled another Bundesliga scoring record as Bayern Munich thumped Stuttgart 5-0 to secure the unofficial winter title at the half-way mark of the season for a 25th time.
Before the game, Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann told broadcaster Sky it was “certainly not” time to congratulate his team on the title already, but the victory showed just how dominant the nine-time reigning champions can be.
They are nine points clear of second-placed Borussia Dortmund ,who host bottom club Greuther Fuerth in one of five fixtures on Wednesday.
Stuttgart survived an early string of chances for Bayern to score, and even created a couple of their own, before Gnabry curled the ball into the top-right corner in the 40th minute to open the scoring.
Thomas Mueller set up Gnabry for a second goal just after halftime before a run of three goals in five minutes finished off Stuttgart.
Lewandowski chipped the ball over the goalkeeper in the 69th before tapping in a Gnabry cross three minutes later.
The Poland star’s 18 goals in 16 games this season take his league tally to 42 in 2021 – to equal the Bundesliga scoring record in a calendar year of the great Gerd Mueller from 1972.
He can break the record in their final league game of the year against strugglers Wolfsburg on Friday.
Lewandowski in May became the record scorer in one season of the German top-flight with a 2020-21 tally of 41, one more than Mueller in 1971-72.
Gnabry completed his hat-trick on Tuesday evening when a cross was palmed into his path in the 74th.
The game was played in an empty stadium because of state-level restrictions after a rise in coronavirus cases.
It could be another comfortable evening for Bayern after Wolfsburg’s miserable recent form continued with a sixth consecutive loss in all competitions, beaten 3-2 by Cologne.
Wolfsburg led 2-1 with 20 minutes to go before Mark Uth scored in a scramble in the penalty area and Anthony Modeste gave Cologne the lead in the 89th with his second goal of the game.
Mainz rose to sixth with a 4-0 demolition of Hertha Berlin while second-last Arminia Bielefeld defeated Bochum 2-0 for their first home win of the season.
with DPA
