Newly crowned champion Bayern crushes Monchengladbach

Ten-man Bayern Munich showed no mercy with Borussia Monchengladbach and marched to a 6-0 victory after Robert Lewandowski provided a hat trick in the 32nd round on Saturday.

Although Dortmund's 3-2 win over Leipzig had sealed Bayern's ninth straight Bundesliga title ahead of the game, the German giant started highly motivated and hungry for goals against Monchengladbach.

With less than two minutes played, Bayern had opened the scoring on home soil as David Alaba's good build-up work helped Lewandowski to slot home from inside the box.

Monchengladbach wasn't able to keep Bayern at bay as Kingsley Coman rattled the woodwork in the 14th minute while Lewandowski missed two opportunities moments later.

Bayern eventually doubled its lead with 23 minutes gone after Jamal Musiala's square pass allowed Thomas Muller to finish the job with a low shot past Monchengladbach custodian Yann Sommer.

The Bavarians continued relentlessly and tripled their lead in style in the 34th minute when Lewandowski marked his 38th goal of the season and his 200th in a Bayern Munich shirt with a sideways scissor kick into the near post.

Things went from bad to worse for the visitors as Bayern made it 4-0 before the break when Lewandowski attracted the attention of Monchengladbach's defense before setting up for Coman, who hammered home from the edge of the box.

After the restart, the Foals tried to take over but for all that, their efforts yielded no more than half-chances from substitute Alassane Plea in the 50th minute.

Bayern wasn't done with the scoring after Florian Neuhaus's handball inside the box allowed Lewandowski to convert the subsequent penalty from the spot in the 66th minute.

Although Bayern had to continue with ten men, after the dismissal of Tanguy Nianzou in the 74th minute, the hosts made it 6-0 against a hapless Monchengladbach after Leroy Sane made the most of Serge Gnabry's pass into his path in the 85th minute.

With the 23rd win of the season, the 2020-2021 Bundesliga champion increase its advantage to ten points with two rounds to spare, while Monchengladbach stays in 7th place in the standings.

"We said before the game, we have to avoid an early goal against us but then we swallowed an early goal with just two minutes played. The Bavarians are true champions and with every goal they score, they increase the pressure. We lost 6-0 here and there is nothing you can argue away. It was a total blackout for us," said Monchengladbach head coach Marco Rose.

"Usually when teams clinch the title ahead of schedule, they tend to play lax in the last games, but our team was fully focussed and showed their will to win from the kickoff," said Bayern Munich's chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.

The following fixtures conclude the 32nd round on Sunday: relegation-threatened Cologne hosts Freiburg, Eintracht Frankfurt faces Mainz, Hertha Berlin encounters Arminia Bielefeld.