Dutch winger Arjen Robben hit a hat-trick yesterday as Bayern Munich hammered Hertha Berlin 6-0 in Germany’s capital but league leaders Borussia Dortmund beat Bremen to stay five points clear.
Having hammered Hoffenheim 7-1 last Saturday in the Bundesliga, then demolished Basel 7-0 in the Champions League on Tuesday to reach the quarter-finals, Bayern have now scored 20 goals in their last three games.
Germany striker Mario Gomez, the league’s top-scorer with 22 goals in 25 games, netted a second-half penalty to leave him with eight goals from three games having hit four against Basel and three against Hoffenheim.
In total, the 26-year-old has alread scored 35 in all competitions, while his team remain second in the league and five points behind Dortmund.
Likewise, Robben now has seven goals from his last three matches as Bayern’s purple patch continues.
Berlin, who have lost nine of their last 10 games, gave away three penalties and defeat to Bayern sees them drop to 17th, second from bottom, after Freiburg’s 3-1 win at Hamburg.
Germany midfielder Thomas Mueller gave Bayern an early lead before Robben netted twice, including a penalty, to make it 3-0 at the break.
With 50 minutes gone, the Berlin defence was blitzed with two goals in as many minutes as Gomez fired home from the penalty spot after France winger Franck Ribery was fouled by Hertha defender Alfredo Morales.
Robben then robbed Berlin’s Christoph Janker of possession and although the Hertha goalkeeper got a glove to the ball, Bayern’s Toni Kroos netted the rebound to make it 5-0.
Morales, 21, who has made only 10 Bundesliga appearances, gave away his second penalty of the game when he again fouled Ribery and Robben slotted home the spot- kick to complete the scoring.
Earlier, Dortmund winger Shinji Kagawa scored an early goal to seal his team’s 1-0 win over Bremen, setting a new club record of 20 matches without defeat.
“My only criticism is that we didn’t take our chances earlier, we left the game open for too long,” said Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp.
“Consequently, we weren’t sure of the win until the very end. But I was very happy with the performance, we were very alert and alive.”
Results
Augsburg 2 - Mainz 1
B. Leverkusen 1 - B. M’gladbach 2
B. Dortmund 1 - W. Bremen 0
Hamburg 1 - Freiburg 3
H. Berlin 0 - B. Munich 6
Nuremberg 1 - Wolfsburg 3
| P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | |
| B. Dortmund | 26 | 18 | 5 | 3 | 53 | 16 | 59 |
| B. Munich | 26 | 17 | 3 | 6 | 64 | 17 | 54 |
| B. M’gladbach | 26 | 15 | 6 | 5 | 39 | 16 | 51 |
| Schalke | 25 | 15 | 2 | 8 | 54 | 33 | 47 |
| B. Leverkusen | 26 | 11 | 7 | 8 | 39 | 34 | 40 |
| W. Bremen | 26 | 11 | 6 | 9 | 40 | 39 | 39 |
| Stuttgart | 26 | 10 | 6 | 10 | 43 | 34 | 36 |
| Hanover | 25 | 8 | 11 | 6 | 30 | 35 | 35 |
| Wolfsburg | 26 | 10 | 4 | 12 | 34 | 47 | 34 |
| Nuremberg | 26 | 9 | 4 | 13 | 25 | 37 | 31 |
| Mainz | 26 | 7 | 9 | 10 | 38 | 41 | 30 |
| Hoffenheim | 26 | 7 | 9 | 10 | 29 | 37 | 30 |
| Cologne | 25 | 8 | 4 | 13 | 32 | 46 | 28 |
| Hamburg | 26 | 6 | 9 | 11 | 30 | 48 | 27 |
| Augsburg | 26 | 5 | 11 | 10 | 27 | 40 | 26 |
| Freiburg | 26 | 6 | 7 | 13 | 33 | 53 | 25 |
| Hertha Berlin | 26 | 5 | 8 | 13 | 26 | 47 | 23 |
| Kaiserslautern | 25 | 3 | 11 | 11 | 16 | 32 | 20 |
Playing today
Kaiserslautern vs Schalke - 15.30
Hanover vs Cologne - 17.30