BAYERN MUNICH OPENED a nine-point lead at the top of the Bundesliga table Friday with a 4-0 home win over Wolfsburg as goal-scorers Robert Lewandowski, Thomas Mueller and Dayot Upamecano all celebrated milestones.
Mueller marked his 400th Bundesliga appearance by opening the scoring with his 222nd league goal before defender Upamecano, signed from Leipzig for this season, headed in his first goal in the famous red Bayern shirt.
Leroy Sane then planted a shot into the left corner on the hour mark.
Lewandowski, who on Tuesday equalled Gerd Mueller’s record of 42 German league goals in a calendar year from 1972, capped a gala night with Bayern’s fourth to claim the new record outright.
This was Bayern’s final match before the Bundesliga winter break and head coach Julian Nagelsmann was pleased with the performance.
“We defended well, pressed them hard, won pretty much every ball in our own half and we deserved to win by that margin,” said Nagelsmann.
Bayern’s lead at the top of the Bundesliga table can be trimmed on Saturday by second-placed Borussia Dortmund, who are away to Hertha Berlin.
This was Wolfsburg’s seventh straight loss, piling the pressure on new head coach Florian Kohfeldt who only took charge at the end of October after the sacking of predecessor Mark van Bommel.
In contrast, this was Bayern’s seventh straight victory in all competitions.
Bayern were ahead after only seven minutes behind closed doors at the Allianz Arena when Serge Gnabry’s thunderbolt shot from distance was parried into the path of Mueller, who tapped home.
It stayed 1-0 at the break, but Mueller’s deft chip gave him a 15th assist in the Bundesliga this season as Upamecano steered his header into the net.
Just three minutes later, Sane grabbed Bayern’s third when he unleashed a superb shot which gave Wolfsburg goalkeeper Koen Casteels no chance.
Lewandowski finally got the goal to break another of Gerd Mueller’s records with some deadly finishing.
Before kick-off, Bayern sports director Hasan Salihamidzic ruled out any new signings in the forthcoming January transfer window.
“We are really well-staffed, that’s a fact,” he stressed, “we will continue as things are this season.”
Meanwhile, in Italy leaders Inter Milan thrashed last-place Salernitana 5-0 on Friday to close in on the honorary title of Serie A ‘winter champion’.
Ivan Perisic headed the champions ahead after 11 minutes in Salerno and Denzel Dumfries crashed a powerful shot in off the underside of the bar in the 33rd minute to give them a handy cushion at the break.
In the second half, Alexis Sanchez finished off an impressive Inter move after 52 minutes, Lautaro Martinez scored an opportunist goal in the 77th minute and Roberto Gagliardini rounded out the scoring three minutes from time.
It was Inter’s sixth straight victory in the league and fifth straight clean sheet.
Inter, who have one match to play before the halfway point of the season, moved four points ahead of second-placed AC Milan, who on Sunday host fourth-place Napoli, and six ahead of third-placed Atalanta, who host Roma.
Salernitana, with Franck Ribery in fine form, had chances.
They could have equalised had it not been for a good save from Samir Handanovic from Joel Obi after 30 minutes.
But in the end they could not stop Inter setting a club record for goals in a calendar year: 103 before they face Torino in their last game of 2021.
In Friday’s other game, Lazio beat Genoa 3-1 at home to climb above Empoli into eighth, level on points with Juventus who face Bologna on Saturday.
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Former Munster hooker Mike Sherry joins Murray Kinsella and Gavan Casey to discuss all the goings on from one of the most insane weeks of Irish rugby news in living memory.
