Germany striker Mario Gomez netted a hat-trick in Bayern Munich’s 7-1 demolition of Hoffenheim yesterday as the Bavarians trimmed the gap behind German league leaders Dortmund to five points.
Defending champions Dortmund were held to a goalless draw at Augsburg in the late kick-off as Bayern took the chance to cut their lead and give themselves a confidence boost ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League clash.
Dortmund came up against a Augsburg team battling relegation as the valuable point moved the hosts up to 15th in the league and out of the relegation places as they frustrated the league leaders.
Bayern had earlier got the win they badly needed in Munich ahead of their clash against Basel when they must over-turn a 1-0 defeat from the away leg.
With Bayern still licking their wounds from last weekend’s 2-0 defeat at Leverkusen, reports coach Jupp Heynckes will quit at the end of the season also circulated in midweek, although he later insisted he will see out the 15 months left on his contract.
Bayern responded to the pressure by blitzing Hoffenheim with five goals in exactly 30 minutes during a devastating first-half performance.
“The difference from the Leverkusen game was that we have now played well over 90 minutes and took our chances,” said Heynckes.
“We played at a frenzy and the goals were all a delicacy. This will give us a boost for Tuesday.”
Bayern started with a bang as Gomez put a pass out to Thomas Mueller whose shot was parried only for the striker to fire home after five minutes.
Dutch winger Arjen Robben then converted a penalty to put them 2-0 up after 11 minutes.
The third came just seven minutes later when Germany midfielder Toni Kroos fired home from 25 metres and Robben made it 4-0 with less than half an hour played after a defence splitting-pass from France wing Franck Ribery.
The rout continued as Gomez headed home a Ribery cross on 34 minutes and the Germany striker wrapped up his hat-trick with a second header from a Robben corner on 48 minutes.
Having created three of Bayern’s goals, Ribery then claimed his own for Bayern’s seventh on 58 minutes before Bayern’s Luiz Gustavo netted a late own-goal for Hoffenheim.
This was only Bayern’s fifth win in their ten games since Christmas, but with third-placed M’gladbach being held to a goalless draw by Freiburg, Bayern are now three points clear of third with a huge goal difference.
Germany striker Lukas Podolski was shown a straight red-card in Cologne’s bad-tempered 1-0 home win over Hertha Berlin as the hosts finished with nine men.
Cologne midfielder Christian Clemens scored the first-half winner, but Podolski was one of three players sent off for aiming a second-half head butt and was shown a straight red on 76 minutes.
Results
Augsburg 0 - B. Dortmund 0
B. Munich 7 - Hoffenheim 1
B. M’gladbach 0 - Freiburg 0
Cologne 1 - H. Berlin 0
Mainz 2 - Nuremberg 1
Wolfsburg 3 - B. Leverkusen 2
Played Friday
Stuttgart 0 - Kaiserslautern 0
Standings
| P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | |
| B. Dortmund | 25 | 17 | 5 | 3 | 52 | 16 | 56 |
| B. Munich | 25 | 16 | 3 | 6 | 58 | 17 | 51 |
| B. M’gladbach | 25 | 14 | 6 | 5 | 37 | 15 | 48 |
| Schalke | 24 | 14 | 2 | 8 | 51 | 32 | 44 |
| B. Leverkusen | 25 | 11 | 7 | 7 | 38 | 32 | 40 |
| W. Bremen | 24 | 10 | 6 | 8 | 37 | 38 | 36 |
| Hanover | 24 | 8 | 11 | 5 | 30 | 32 | 35 |
| Stuttgart | 25 | 9 | 6 | 10 | 41 | 33 | 33 |
| Nuremberg | 25 | 9 | 4 | 12 | 24 | 34 | 31 |
| Wolfsburg | 25 | 9 | 4 | 12 | 31 | 46 | 31 |
| Mainz | 25 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 37 | 39 | 30 |
| Hoffenheim | 25 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 28 | 35 | 30 |
| Cologne | 25 | 8 | 4 | 13 | 32 | 46 | 28 |
| Hamburg | 24 | 6 | 9 | 9 | 28 | 42 | 27 |
| Augsburg | 25 | 4 | 11 | 10 | 25 | 39 | 23 |
| Hertha Berlin | 25 | 5 | 8 | 12 | 26 | 41 | 23 |
| Freiburg | 25 | 5 | 7 | 13 | 30 | 52 | 22 |
| Kaiserslautern | 25 | 3 | 11 | 11 | 16 | 32 | 20 |
Playing today
W. Bremen vs Hannover - 15.30
Schalke vs Hamburg - 17.30