Berlin: Serge Gnabry’s hat-trick helped Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich to cruise 6-1 past hapless Werder Bremen on Tuesday.
The Bavarians made a fairy tale start on home soil and broke the deadlock with six minutes gone when Jamal Musiala tapped home the opener from close range.
Bremen responded straight away as Anthony Jung latched onto Mitchell Weiser’s good build-up work to restore parity moments later, reports Xinhua.
Bayern should have retaken the lead but Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting couldn’t beat Bremen goalkeeper Jiri Pavlenka from the penalty spot in the 15th minute.
The record German champions continued powerful and eventually made it 2-1 six minutes later as Gnabry collected a loose ball inside the box to curl the ball past Pavlenka into the far corner.
The hosts were shocked and couldn’t put up resistance whereas Bayern worked out a 4-1 lead as goals from Leon Goretzka and Gnabry destroyed Bremen’s hopes of a comeback before the halftime whistle.
Bayern ceased attacking after the restart but still Bremen couldn’t do any damage to the hosts’ defence.
The frontrunners, on the other hand, weren’t done with the scoring and extended their advantage in the closing stages as Gnabry wrapped up his hat-trick in the 82nd minute before Mathys Tel finished off a solo run to round off a 6-1 victory on home soil.
“Winning four straight games on home soil with more than four goals speak for itself. We had a difficult start as we wasted a penalty and had to swallow the equalizer. We remained calm though and scored three goals before the break. The boys staged a great performance for the supporters. Compliments to the boys,” said Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann.
Elsewhere, Wolfsburg extended their unbeaten run to nine games after ending Borussia Dortmund’s three-game winning streak with a 2-0 victory.
Bottom side Bochum flabbergasted struggling Borussia Monchengladbach and Konstantinos Mavropanos’ late winner helped Stuttgart edge Hertha Berlin.
–IANS