BAYERN MUNICH MUST wait another week before wrapping up the Bundesliga title, but even though the champagne remained on ice, the team were fizzing Saturday as a sparkling showing brought a 9-2 humbling of Hamburg.
Second-placed Borussia Dortmund won 2-1 at Stuttgart to delay the inevitable but Bayern rammed home their superiority by swamping a Hamburg side which had surrendered by half-time, at which point the northerners were 5-0 down.
One point from their renaining seven matches and the Bavarians will be crowned champions, ending two years of Dortmund domination.
Bayern refused to show their one-time great rivals – Hamburg were European champions in 1983 but have since slumped into mediocrity – any mercy after the interval, slamming home another four goals as veteran Peruvian striker Claudio Pizarro helped himself to a personal tally of four.
Thomas Mueller, Kherdan Shaqiri, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Franck Ribery also chipped in. If you like goals, you will love this:
YouTube credit: FellowSuceDesBites
Reigning champions Dortmund thanked Polish duo Lukasz Piszczek and Robert Lewandowski for their win, with Alexandru Maxim equalising in between for Stuttgart, who had former Bayern defender Georg Niedermeier sent off in the second half.
Bayern, who face Juventus in the Champions League on Tuesday, can secure their 23rd national title by beating Eintracht Frankfurt next weekend while Dortmund focus on their Champions League quarter-final against Malaga.
