Robert
Lewandowski claimed his 14th Bundesliga goal of the season on Saturday as
Bayern Munich went eight points clear with a 4-0 win over VfB Stuttgart.
Bayern’s
star-studded attack ran riot at the Allianz Arena with Arjen Robben, Douglas
Costa and Thomas Mueller also getting on the scoresheet as defeat pushed
Stuttgart back into the bottom three.
With
second-placed Borussia Dortmund hosting Schalke on Sunday in the Ruhr derby,
Bayern took the chance to extend their lead.
Pep
Guardiola’s Bayern picked up where they left off on Wednesday in the 5-1 rout
of Arsenal in the Champions League.
“It’s
so difficult to play every three days and show this sort of mentality,” said
Guardiola, with Bayern targeting a repeat of their 2013 treble of Champions
League, Bundesliga and German Cup.
“I
hope they keep this aggression up until the winter break (in December) and then
until the end of the season, because if we don’t win the treble, it will have
been a bad season.”
The
Bavarian giants have now claimed 34 points from 36 and are the only unbeaten
team in Germany’s top flight.
They
took the lead just 11 minutes in after creating a five-on-one attacking
opportunity.
Although
Robben netted the goal, he had Arturo Vidal, Lewandowski and Mueller lining up
to score behind him.
Costa
then doubled the tally with a long-range strike on 18 minutes.
Poland’s
Lewandowski made it 3-0 on 37 minutes by volleying home Mueller’s cross, which
made him the league’s top scorer, then the Germany forward grabbed the fourth
with a header on 40 minutes.
Bayern
have turned the Allianz Arena into a fortress by scoring 28 goals in their last
six home games, conceding just three.
Third-placed
Wolfsburg, last season’s runners-up, are now 13 points adrift of Bayern after
crashing to a 2-0 defeat at Mainz as Pablo de Blasis and Yunus Mali scored.
Wolfsburg
were reduced to 10 men when Germany midfielder Julian Draxler was sent off
inside the opening 15 minutes for kung-fu kicking Chile defender Gonzalo Jara
while competing for the ball.
It
capped a bad week for Wolves, who were usurped by Manchester United at the top
of their Champions League group following their 2-0 defeat at Eindhoven.
Fellow
Champions League side Bayer Leverkusen also suffered a second loss after being
beaten 2-1 at home to neighbours Cologne in the Rhine derby.
Defender
Dominic Maroh scored both of Cologne’s goals while Leverkusen’s Javier
Hernandez scored for the sixth match running to give him 12 goals since joining
from Manchester United.
Leverkusen
were reduced to 10 men when defender Kyriakos Papadopoulos was shown a red card
for bringing down Cologne striker Anthony Modeste when he was through on goal.
Hoffenheim
remain second from bottom after their goalless draw with Eintracht Frankfurt
while Hamburg drew 1-1 at Darmstadt as Pierre-Michel Lasogga’s first-half
penalty was cancelled out by Marcel Heller’s equaliser for hosts Darmstadt.
Borussia
Moenchengladbach had their six-match winning streak under caretaker coach Andre
Schubert ended by a goalless draw at home to Ingolstadt.
On
Friday, Ivory Coast striker Salomon Kalou grabbed a hat-trick to steer Hertha
Berlin to a 3-1 win at Hanover and into the top four.
The
30-year-old former Chelsea star found the target in the 33rd and 60th minutes
before completing his hat-trick with a penalty three minutes from time.
Kalou
now has seven goals in the Bundesliga this season while Japan’s Hiroshi
Kiyotake scored Hanover’s only goal with a 70th-minute spot-kick.
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