Pep Guardiola's Bayern Munich now have a 20-point lead
after Arjen Robben hit a hat-trick against Schalke 04 to equal their own league
record of 15 straight wins.
Bayern Munich coach Pep Guardiola is set to scoop his
first German title in record time later this month after the Bundesliga holders
opened a 20-point lead on Saturday.
Arjen Robben hit a hat-trick as Bayern romped to a 5-1
home win over Schalke 04 to equal their own league record of 15 straight wins
and extend their record unbeaten run to 48 Bundesliga matches.
Having dropped just four points all season, his side have
now claimed 65 points after 23 games -- setting another league record.
Bayern won last season's treble of league, cup and
Champions League titles.
They had wrapped up the Bundesliga with a record six
games to spare and Guardiola's side is on course to at least equal that.
Having won 14 titles in four years as Barcelona coach
before standing down in 2012, Guardiola could have his first Bundesliga title
confirmed by the end of March in his first season in charge.
"In the break, we talked about respect for the
opponent and about how we needed to keep serious," said Guardiola, ever
the perfectionist as his side led 4-0 at half-time at Munich's Allianz Arena.
"Congratulations to the team. With every game we
move a little closer to defending the league title," he added with 11 league
games left.
Guardiola has already won two titles at Munich having
scooped the UEFA Super Cup by beating Chelsea in Prague last August, then
lifting the Club World Cup in Morocco in December.
On Friday, Guardiola flippantly told reporters
"don't ask me about the title!" in broken German, but Bayern will
wrap up their 24th German league title when they host Hoffenheim at home on
March 29 if they maintain their massive lead.
Germany winger Thomas Mueller was the first from the
Bayern camp to admit the title race is over, telling Munich newspaper TZ:
"I don't think anyone is reckoning that we will lose six of our last
remaining matches".
Bayern were never troubled by Schalke, who lost 6-1 at
home to Cristiano Ronaldo's Real Madrid on Wednesday in the Champions League,
and were 4-0 down inside half an hour on Saturday.
With three minutes gone, left-back David Alaba netted a
free-kick, then Robben scored either side of Mario Mandzukic's header from a
superb Alaba cross.
Schalke were gifted a goal when Jefferson Farfan's corner
was turned into his own net by Munich right-back Rafinha, in for captain
Philipp Lahm, with 25 minutes left -- it was only the tenth goal Bayern have
conceded all season.
To compound Schalke's misery, Greece centre-back Kyriakos
Papadopoulos was shown a straight red for bringing down Mandzukic in the area.
His foul allowed Robben to wrap up his hat-trick with a
77th-minute penalty.
"My son will enjoy having the match ball, my kids
are my biggest fans," said Dutch winger and father of three Robben.
"We play with so much aggression and tempo, we
really put our foot down.
"The title is getting every closer, we played with
so much passion, which we need for the big games, especially in the Champions
League."
Schalke were left to rue what coach Jens Keller refered
to as a "catastrophic performance.
"We still had the Real defeat in our system",
while captain Benedikt Hoewedes was again left to apologise to the Royal Blues'
fans.
"You can't get much worse than that," fumed
Hoewedes, who had a miserable 26th birthday.
"That was highly embarrassing and we need to
apologise to our fans. We gave Bayern too much respect."
Culled from NDTV
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