Robert Lewandowski followed up his record five-goal haul by netting twice in Bayern Munich’s 3-0 win at Mainz on Saturday to take his tally to 101 Bundesliga goals as the Bavarians went five points clear in the table.
Having sent Bundesliga records tumbling with five goals in just nine minutes off the bench in Tuesday’s 5-1 rout of Wolfsburg, the 27-year-old Poland hot-shot now has ten goals in seven German league games after adding two more at Mainz.
Bayern squandered an early chance when Thomas Mueller skied his penalty effort on 21 minutes, while Mainz’s Japan striker Yoshinori Muto drilled his shot just wide of the post seven minutes later.
But Lewandowski marked his 100th Bundesliga goal by again demonstrating pin-point accuracy as he headed Kingsley Coman’s cross inside the far post on 51 minutes.
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A superb pass from Chile midfielder Arturo Vidal then put Lewandowski in behind the defence to round the goalkeeper for his 101st on 63 minutes.
France Under-21 winger Coman grabbed Bayern’s third five minutes later with a simple tap from a Douglas Costa’s cross which floored the Mainz defence.
With second-placed Borussia Dortmund hosting Darmstadt on Sunday, Pep Guardiola’s Bayern took their chance to open a five-point gap as they look to become the first team to win a fourth consecutive German league title.
Leverkusen win, Wolfsburg Draw and Monchengladbach win
Bayer Leverkusen, who play holders Barcelona away on Tuesday in the Champions League, romped to a 3-0 win away to Werder Bremen with goals by Swiss forward Admir Mehmedi, winger Kevin Kampl and Germany Under-21 talent Julian Brandt.
Bayer’s ex-Manchester United striker Javier Hernandez came on for the last 15 minutes as Roger Schmidt saved him for the mouth-watering clash at the Camp Nou.
Wolfsburg were held to a 1-1 draw at home to strugglers Hanover 96 as they warmed-up for their Champions League trip to Old Trafford to face Louis van Gaal’s Manchester United on Wednesday.
Having been mauled 5-1 at Bayern, Wolfsburg took the lead when Daniel Caligiuri’s cross was met at the near post by Dutch striker Bas Dost on 40 minutes.
Hanover levelled when Japan midfielder Hiroshi Kiyotake’s superb volley gave Wolfsburg goalkeeper Diego Benaglio no chance on 57 minutes.
Borussia Moenchengladbach, who host Manchester City in the Champions League on Wednesday, picked up their second win since Lucien Favre’s shock resignation last Sunday with a 3-1 win at VfB Stuttgart.
Favre resigned last Sunday with his side bottom of the table after five straight league defeats, but under caretaker coach Andre Schubert, Gladbach backed up Wednesday’s 4-2 win at home to Augsburg with a 2-1 victory at Stuttgart.
A Granit Xhaka strike and an own goal by Christian Gentner gave Gladbach a 2-1 lead before Daniel Ginczek slotted home a 40th-minute penalty for the hosts, then Brazil striker Raffael netted late for Gladbach.
Hoffenheim climbed up to fifteenth with a 3-1 win at Augsburg which saw their Bavarian hosts drop to third from bottom as Germany international Kevin Volland scored twice including a second-half penalty.
By AFP
