RESULT! Martinez time for Ancelotti
BAYERN MUNICH warmed up for their trip to Arsenal with an emphatic win at the RheinEnergieStadion.
Javi Martinez fired the Bundesliga leaders into a 25th-minute lead and fellow Spanish defender Juan Bernat added a second three minutes after the break.
Franck Ribery completed the scoring with virtually the last kick of the match to further boost the confidence of Carlo Ancelotti’s men before they defend their 5-1 last-16 first-leg lead at The Emirates on Tuesday night.
They are now seven points clear of second-placed Red Bull Leipzig.
Martinez opened the scoring when he got on the end of an Arturo Vidal cutback and fired into the top corner.
Bayern have gone on to win every time the former Athletic Bilbao star has netted for them in the Bundesliga.
Bernat made it two when Thomas Muller found him with an excellent long pass and the full-back found the net thanks to a deflection.
The home side had just two shots in the second half and dominant Bayern ended the game with a fine team move casually finished off by substitute Ribery to seal Cologne’s first home league defeat since April 2016. KARIM BENZEMA scored twice as Real Madrid turned on the style without their top two Galacticos.
With Cristiano Ronaldo injured and Gareth Bale suspended, France striker Benzema stepped up to the plate for boss Zinedine Zidane with goals in the 14th and 25th minutes.
He scored from a rebound after Yoel had saved his initial effort from Marco Asensio’s cross and then turned home James Rodriguez’s free-kick to double Real’s lead.
The Colombia star now has five goals and 12 assists in 23 appearances this season, 12 of them from the bench.
Benzema set up the third with a cross which Rodriguez slid home over Yoel in the 29th minute and Asensio scored a fourth on the hour after Rodriguez hit the post.
Ruben Pena netted a 72nd-minute consolation for Eibar, the tiny Basque club with a 6,200-capacity stadium who are dreaming of a first European adventure next season.
Zidane also left regulars Toni Kroos, Marcelo and Dani Carvajal on the bench ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League trip to Napoli but the Frenchman’s gamble paid off.
Ronaldo was not risked despite Zidane insisting his injury “isn’t serious”.
The Kop boss took a bow after Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane and Georginio Wijnaldum grabbed the goals in an emphatic victory which saw Liverpool leapfrog Arsenal in the race for a Champions League spot.
Danny Welbeck pulled one back for Arsene Wenger’s slip-sliding crew but it was never enough to deny Liverpool a double over the Londoners. That is 19 points Liverpool have taken off top-five sides with Arsenal now losing five of their last 11 Premier League games.
Grim reading for Wenger but not for Klopp who left the field at the final whistle thumping his heart which had been lifted by a back-to-their-best Liverpool performance.
The German revealed he had done a lot of soul-searching since the shocking defeat at Leicester last Monday but was adamant there would be no excuses.
This was a long-term project, he insisted, and Liverpool would experience bumps on the journey. Although he was quick to point out that those bumps in the road would be kept to a minimum.
Wenger and Co were determined that Liverpool would hit bigger obstacles and started on a mission to inflict more serious damage on a side which stumbled and struggled in the first two months of 2017.
Alexis Sanchez was dropped to the bench as Arsenal went for the more direct approach. A gamble which looked like paying off in the early exchanges as the Gunners pressed on for an initial breakthrough.
But just when Klopp appeared to be facing more agony, Liverpool stormed into a ninth-minute lead to send Anfield wild in celebration.
They broke at speed and Mane lurked with great intent on