Bayern Munich are now three points clear at the top of the Bundesliga after hammering a lacklustre 10-man Red Bull Leipzig 3-0 at the Allianz Arena on Wednesday night.
Three first-half goals consisting of two simple finishes from Thiago and Xabi Alonso and a converted penalty by Robert Lewandowski means that the reigning champions now go into the winter break ahead of their nearest title rivals.
“?The visitors had the better of the chances early on, and were unlucky not to take the lead when Timo Werner flashed the ball across the six-yard box in the direction of the onrushing Yussuf Poulsen, but the cross had too much pace for the 22-year-old to tap into an open goal.
However, after the opening exchanges Bayern Munich settled and were unlucky not go one up when Leipzig goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi spilled a fizzed-in Douglas Costa cross after he cut in from the left-hand side, but fortunately for the visitors it did not fall into the path of a Bayern player.
Soon after, however, came the breakthrough.
A low ball in from the right by Philipp Lahm found the surging run of Lewandowski whose first-time shot cannoned off the right-hand post and fell nicely for Thiago who tapped the ball into an empty net with his upper thigh.
Not long after the home side were two ahead after disastrous defensive play from Leipzig.
Naby Keita got caught in possession by Arturo Vidal in the final third and quickly offloaded the ball to Thiago, who slipped in Alonso on the edge of the area for a well placed side-foot finish past Gulacsi.
Even though down, Leipzig showed fight straight after and could have been back in it when Willi Orban had his header expertly saved by Manuel Neuer, but things went from bad to worse from the resulting corner for the Bulls.
Emil Forsberg was shown a straight red card after sliding and stamping on the back of Lahm’s left leg to stop a lightning quick break away from the home side.
The first-half did not get much better for the visitors when Gulacsi was penalised for taking Costa down in the area.
There was a hint of offside as the 26-year-old Brazil international looked to have started his run too early before Mats Hummels’ long ball over the top, but the flag stayed down and Lewandowski converted from the spot to make it 3-0 at the break.
The second half started in the same vein as the first finished with Bayern controlling the possession and creating the majority of the chances.
Lewandowski had an excellent opportunity to get his second of the night and the host’s fourth when he was played in behind by Costa – beating Leipzig’s offside-trap – only for his shot to be brilliantly save by onrushing Gulacsi.
The Polish international was then denied again by Leipzig’s goalkeeper who just did enough to deflect the 28-year-old’s attempted lob over the bar after lovely link up play with team-mate Franck Ribery allowed the Bayern striker to get through one-on-one.
Late on Ribery had the chance to put the icing on the cake but his powerful left-footed shot smashed the underside of the bar and bounced-back from the goal-line back into play.
The tie did not live up to close contest it was built up as being and Bayern Munich really showed the difference in class still between themselves and the Bundesliga newcomers.
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