Bayern secure ‘winter title’ with 5-0 win
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Champions Bayern Munich have won 5-0 at VfB Stuttgart to secure the unofficial Bundesliga winter title at the season’s halfway mark for a 25th time with one game to spare.
Stuttgart-born Serge Gnabry, who had six efforts on goal in the first half alone, got a hat-trick with goals in the 40th, 53rd and 74th minutes. Gnabry also set up Robert Lewandowski for goals in the 69th and 72nd as Bayern grabbed their final three goals in a span of five minutes on Tuesday.
Lewandowski’s second goal equalled Gerd Mueller’s 1972 record of 42 Bundesliga goals in a single calendar year.
The match was played in front of only 750 fans owing to coronavirus regulations.
Bayern went on to lift the trophy in 21 of the past 24 seasons they have led at the halfway stage. From all past 58 campaigns the midway leader has finished top 39 times.
The nine-time reigning champions moved nine points ahead of second-placed Borussia Dortmund who host bottom club Greuther Fuerth on Wednesday. Stuttgart are just above the bottom three in 15th.
Bayern end the year on Friday at home against Wolfsburg who were hosting Cologne in one of three late games on Tuesday. The Bundesliga then goes into a three-week winter break.
