Four second-half goals saw Bayern Munich romp to a 5-1 victory over Kaiserslautern in Saturday’s Bundesliga action.
The performance from Louis Van Gaal’s side was the highlight of the day’s play in the German top flight, with Mario Gomez striking a hat-trick in the triumph.
Both sides entered the game in form, with Bayern unbeaten in six while Kaiserslautern had not lost in five.
Arjen Robben opened the scoring on the stroke of half-time when he made the most of Thomas Mueller’s assist and just a minute after the break, Gomez doubled the hosts’ lead.
Kaiserslautern were entertaining thoughts of a comeback when Jan Moravek pulled one back just after the hour-mark, but Gomez’s second with just 10 minutes remaining wrapped up the result.
The in-form striker snared his treble five minutes later, making it a remarkable 22 goals in his last 17 matches in all competitions for Bayern, before Mueller added the fifth in injury time.
League leaders Borussia Dortmund remain 13 points clear at the top of the standings, despite sharing the spoils in a 1-1 draw with relegation-threatened Stuttgart.
Mario Gotze put the table-toppers in front on the stroke of half-time but Dortmund were made to pay by Pavel Pogrebnyak who struck with five minutes remaining.
Hannover failed to take advantage of Dortmund’s slip-up as they were beaten at home by Schalke by a solitary goal.
Despite sitting a whopping 12 points behind Juergen Klopp’s side on the league table, Hannover found themselves in the usual position of second before kick-off.
But their league position counted for nothing as Raul struck the sole goal in the match after 33 minutes after good build-up work from Lukas Schmitz.
In other matches, Simon Kjaer’s 82nd minute goal gave Wolfsburg a 1-0 away win at Mainz while Julian Schieber’s equaliser gave Nurenburg a point in a 1-1 draw with Freiburg.
Sat 22 January, 2011
