BAYERN DEMOLISH DORTMUND
Lewandowski breaks 200-Bundesliga goal mark as Bavarians reclaim top spot
CHAMPIONS Bayern Munich dismantled Bundesliga title rivals Borussia Dortmund 5-0 on Saturday, scoring four goals in a flawless first half to reclaim top spot and get back on course for a record-extending seventh straight league crown.
The Bavarians exploded into action and scored twice in the opening 17 minutes through Mats Hummels and Robert Lewandowski, adding two more from Javi Martinez and Serge Gnabry before the interval.
Lewandowski’s strike meant the Polish forward became only the fifth player in Bundesliga history to reach the 200-goal mark and the first foreigner to do so.
Poland’s Lewandowski, who has scored 21 in the league this season, was the first player to break the 200-goal milestone since 1987.
The hosts, who drew 1-1 at Freiburg last week, stepped off the gas after the break and controlled the game before Lewandowski scored again in the 89th minute and Bayern moved up to 64 points with six matches
remaining, one point clear of Dortmund.
“We put them instantly under pressure. We wanted to attack them early and we overran them,” Bayern coach Niko Kovac said. “It was exactly what we had set out to do. We may have had some slipups this season but that happens.
“There were many critics of this team and that is why I am really happy for my players today.” In total Bayern had 22 shots on goal compared to Dortmund’s four.
“This was clearly a lesson for us today,” said Dortmund coach Lucien Favre. “We have to accept it. They were faster, more aggressive, more skilled. We now must focus on the next game.”
Dortmund captain Marco Reus said his team need to take a long, hard look at themselves after their “catastrophic” defeat.
“We played catastrophically and I don’t have any explanation for it,” Reus said. “We can’t turn up and play like that, Bayern are not a joke team. We need to be ruthless when we analyse our performance.”