BEVERLY HILLS, October 24, (THEWILL) – Prolific Polish striker Robert Lewandowski was at his masterful best on Saturday as he hit a hat-trick before Leroy Sane struck the goal of the game as Bayern Munich trounced Eintracht Frankfurt 5-nil in the Bundesliga.
It was a familiar story again in the German top flight as Lewandowski took his haul to a startling 10 goals in five matches, a Bundesliga record for this stage of the season. Obviously now, surpassing last season’s collection of 34 goals must already be in his sights after the perfect hattrick of Saturday.
Only three days ago, Bayern beat Atletico Madrid 4-0 in the Champions League with Lewandowski leaving the scoring to others. Today, the German champions were again too hot to contain at home in the Allianz Arena and Lewandowski was majestic. There was even a goal for 17-year-old substitute, the English attacking midfielder Jamal Musiala in the closing moments, to cap a fine team performance.
There were only 10 minutes on the clock when Lewandowski began. He collected a neat pass from the marauding right winger Kingsley Coman and fired left-footed, low into the bottom right corner.
Although Eintracht had their moments, Bayern had Lewandowski. It was 2-0 inside 26 minutes as a deft Lewandowski header from a right-wing corner, connected near the penalty spot and sent the ball inside the left post.
There were chances for him to make it a first-half treble but that did not materialise. However, the hat-trick was complete after an hour.
Douglas Costa’s throughball found Lewandowski who took it neatly in his stride and, as two defenders converged on him, he found just enough presence of mind to adjust his feet and drill a low shot wide of goalie Kevin Trapp, into the right corner.
Bayern suffered an early setback when in the third minute Canadian defender Alphonso Davies went down in an off the ball incident, clutching his ankle. His replacement, Frenchman Lucas Hernandez, should have made it 4-0 but blasted over from close range after being picked out by the impressive Coman.
The fourth soon came though and it was worth the wait. It was a super strike from Leroy Sane, who cut in from the right to curl an unstoppable 25-yard, left-footed stunner past Trapp. Then, the teenager Musiala bundled in the fifth with the last kick of the match.
Eintracht must have fancied their chances, coming as they were on an eight-match unbeaten run into this game, including their opening four of this Bundesliga campaign. But against the might of Bayern, they were reduced to cannon fodder.
Bayern’s defeat to Hoffenheim four weeks ago could look terribly anomalous this season and seems ages ago, because this was another performance that suggested it will be a procession to the title for Hansi Flick’s team.
The form of Lewandowski will play a big part in that procession. Five shots, four on target, three goals. The Pole makes goalscoring look terribly easy. Each finish was immaculate, and on this form, Gerd Muller’s record of 40 goals in a Bundesliga season is under threat. He only had 31 touches in the entire game, but he is the man with the golden touch.
For the next games, Bayern are back on Champions League duty as they face Lokomotiv Moscow on Tuesday while Eintracht will welcome Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga next Saturday.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
