Bayern hit eight as Hamburg suffer

Feb 25, 2017 - 8:05 PM Robert Lewandowski scored a hat-trick as Bayern Munich celebrated Carlo Ancelotti's 1,000th match as coach with an 8-0 hammering of SV Hamburg in the German football Bundesliga on Saturday.

Lewandowski helped himself to two first-half goals, one from the penalty spot, after an opener from Arturo Vidal, and then notched his third shortly after the break to take his season's league tally to 19.

David Alaba followed up quickly with a fifth, Kingsley Coman came off the bench to score two more, and Arjen Robben completed the rout to match an 8-0 Bayern win over Hamburg in February 2015.

Leipzig meanwhile defeated visiting Cologne 3-1 to stay within five points of leaders Bayern, while third-placed Borussia Dortmund won 3-0 in Freiburg with a brace from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

Hertha Berlin defeated Eintracht Frankfurt 2-0, Bayer Leverkusen slipped to a 2-0 home defeat to Mainz, while Augsburg came from behind to win 2-1 at bottom side Darmstadt with a late Raul Bobadilla goal.

In Munich, Ancelotti was presented with a bouquet of flowers to mark his 1,000th game before his side produced a goal gala against a Hamburg side which produced little resistance in the Allianz Arena.

Vidal opened the scoring in the 17th minute with a shot from the edge of the area on which keeper Rene Adler, in his 250th Bundesliga game, could only get a hand.

Lewandowski converted from the spot seven minutes later after a foul in the box on Thomas Mueller and then made it three two minutes before the break despite close attention in the box.

Adler, who has now been beaten in all his 16 games against Bayern, again picked the ball out of the net after Lewandowski made it four in the 54th minute, and the striker was also involved two minutes later when Alaba netted following a selfless cut-back from Mueller.

But Hamburg's misery continued when substitute Coman finished after a long ball from Mats Hummels and then made it seven before Robben scored three minutes from time to complete an embarrassing afternoon for coach Markus Gisdol's side.

"It hurts - and it's right that it hurts," Gisdol said.

"We have to accept a very clear result. At no point were we a worthy opponent of Bayern. We showed too much respect and they took full advantage of it.

"As hard as it is we have to lift our heads and draw a thick line under this game."

Ancelotti said it was "perfect" performance by his side and described Mueller as "the best player on the pitch even if he didn't score a goal."

He added: "I wanted a good performance for my 1,000th match but I didn't expect this."

While Bayern move to 53 points, Hamburg stay third last on 20 points and could be overtaken by Ingolstadt, who greet Borussia Moenchengladbach on Sunday.

Source: AAP