BERLIN — Bayern Munich gave Hamburger SV another thrashing at home in the Bundesliga on Saturday, with Robert Lewandowski scoring a hat trick in an 8-0 rout before coach Carlo Ancelotti took pity on the visitors.
Lewandowski was replaced at 5-0 and more than half an hour to play.
Bayern leads Hamburg 45-3 on aggregate over eight straight defeats for the northern team in Munich.
After lacklustre performances in the league, Bayern stepped up a level against Hamburg, playing at pace with determination and commitment, dominating possession and forcing the game.
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"It was a perfect day, a perfect game," Ancelotti said of his 1,000th competitive game as a coach.
"I told my players before the game to play a good game for my jubilee, but I didn’t expect this."
It was only a matter of time before the first goal came. Thomas Mueller laid back for Arturo Vidal to rifle in the ball despite Rene Adler’s hand.
Lewandowski struck the crossbar a minute later, but he claimed his 17th of the season from the penalty spot after Mergim Mavraj brought down Mueller, who has endured a difficult season.
"Mueller was the best player on the pitch, even if he didn’t get a goal," Ancelotti said.
Lewandowski’s league-leading 18th came before the break, and completed his hat trick in the 54th, set up with a back-heel from Arjen Robben. Lewandowski was involved in Bayern’s fifth goal, too, sending Mueller through to set up David Alaba two minutes later.
Ancelotti took Lewandowski off straight away for Renato Sanchez to get some much-needed game time. Kingsley Coman, another player who hasn’t played much, came on in the 60th and grabbed a brace with 20 minutes still to play.
Robben completed the scoring with his 125th goal across all competitions for Bayern, pulling level with Claudio Pizarro. The only foreign player with more goals for Bayern is Giovane Elber with 140.
Manuel Neuer, who had a relaxed afternoon, became only the third Bayern goalkeeper after Oliver Kahn and Sepp Maier to amass a total of 100 Bundesliga games without conceding. He achieved the feat in 183 matches, a league record.
Bayern stayed five points clear of Leipzig. Borussia Dortmund was third, 13 points behind Bayern.
LEIPZIG 3, COLOGNE 1
Leipzig scored early and caused all sorts of problems for the visiting defence. Cologne improved after the break and Yuya Osako pulled one back. However, Timo Werner killed off any hopes of a comeback with his 13th goal of the season on a counterattack.
FREIBURG 0, BORUSSIA DORTMUND 3
Dortmund started well and a casual header from Sokratis Papastathopoulos gave the visitors an early lead.
Marco Reus set up Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang early in the second half, and the striker claimed his 19th goal of the season in the 70th, keeping up with Lewandowski, already taken off in Munich.
HERTHA BERLIN 2, EINTRACHT FRANKFURT 0
Frankfurt’s hopes of an equalizer took a hit when Haris Seferovic was sent off for striking Niklas Stark in the face in the 78th.
Five minutes later, Hertha scored again, and moved above Frankfurt into fifth place.
There was trouble before the game in the Berlin neighbourhood of Moabit. Police said around 60 fans from both clubs were involved, throwing bottles and other objects. Media reported a pre-arranged fight with up to 200 involved, several injured and between 30 and 40 arrests.
BAYER LEVERKUSEN 0, MAINZ 2
Leverkusen’s miserable week continued following its 4-2 defeat at home to Atletico Madrid in the Champions League on Tuesday.
Mid-table Mainz raced into an early lead through Stefan Bell and Levin Oztunali, who was back at his former side, and held on to move within two points of Leverkusen.
DARMSTADT 1, AUGSBURG 2
After a scoreless first half, Augsburg came from a goal down to win. Darmstadt was left 10 points from safety at the bottom.
The Altintop twins lined up on opposite sides with Hamit appearing for the home team and Halil for Augsburg.
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