Gnabry hat-trick and Sané debut light up Bayern Munich's 8-0 rout of Schalke
Bayern Munich crushed Schalke 8-0 with a hat-trick from Serge Gnabry and a superb debut from Leroy Sané as they made a sensational start to the new Bundesliga season.
The treble winners sent an ominous warning to the rest of the league when Gnabry grabbed his first goal in the fourth minute with a fine turn and shot.
Schalke, without a league win since January, were helpless against Bayern’s lightning-quick game and Leon Goretzka found plenty of space to drive a low shot past keeper Ralf Fährmann. Last season’s top scorer Robert Lewandowski found the net with a 31stminute penalty to become the first player to score in 10 successive appearances against the same Bundesliga opponents.
Gnabry then scored twice from Sané’s assists after half-time before Thomas Müller made it six. Sané then capped a superb Bayern debut with a fine finish from a counter attack before substitute Jamal Musiala drilled in goal number eight to become the youngest ever Bayern scorer in the league at the age of 17. The England Under-17 international left Chelsea for Bayern last summer.
The one-sided victory stretched Bayern’s unbeaten run to 31 games this year, having now won the last 22 matches in a row.
“You can see that the team was already strong last season,” said Sané, who joined from Manchester City. “The team is still hungry despite winning the treble last season and to have such a start is outstanding.”
Hansi Flick was delighted with his players’ start to the season less than a month after they beat PSG in the Champions League final. “It was superb from us,” said Bayern’s manager. “Before the game we wanted this to be a game that would define where we are at this stage and my players did it very well. We wanted to show that in this season again we are here.”
Bayern’s victory took place in an empty Allianz Arena, after the city of Munich banned spectators due to rising coronavirus infection numbers in the region.