BERLIN: Bayern Munich closed in on a sixth successive title and sent Hamburg SV closer to a first-ever relegation from the Bundesliga with a 6-0 rout of the beleaguered Dinos on Saturday.

Robert Lewandowski scored a hat-trick and missed a penalty as he reached 100 Bundesliga goals for Bayern in an embarrassingly one-sided match which was over as a contest after 20 minutes.

Lewandowski completed his hat trick in the final minute with his second penalty attempt, taking his league-leading tally to 23 — five more than the entire Hamburg team this season — and his Bundesliga total for Bayern to 100.

With 142 goals in competitive games, the Poland striker is Bayern’s most prolific foreign player.

“We played very well today. The performance and result were very important for us,” said Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes, whose side go to Besiktas for the second leg of their Champions League last-16 tie in midweek, leading 5-0 from the first leg.

Leaders Bayern stayed 20 points clear of Schalke 04, who won 1-0 at Mainz 05 on Friday, with eight games to go and can wrap it up next weekend if other results go their way.

Hamburg, the only ever-present team in the Bundesliga’s 55-year history, will now have to pull off a great escape to keep their proud record intact. They are 17th in the 18-team table and seven points adrift of Mainz in the relegation playoff spot.

“That’s not the football I want to see,” Hamburg coach Bernd Hollerbach said. “We saw what happens when you give Bayern bit of space. You can always lose to Bayern, but I didn’t like the manner of our defeat.”

The home side needed only seven minutes to get off the mark as Hamburg captain Gotoku Sakai’s attempted clearance went straight to Franck Ribery, who duly skipped past the ‘keeper to score.

The visitors must have feared the worst when Lewandowski scored five minutes later, heading home off a cross from Joshua Kimmich, and claimed his second seven minutes after that.

Arjen Robben fired in Bayern’s fourth on 55 minutes, and Ribery made it five with a mazy solo run in the 80th minute.

Lewandowksi missed a chance for his hat-trick as he sent his penalty over in the 86th minute but he made amends when the hosts were awarded another spot-kick shortly afterwards.

Bayern have 66 points with Schalke 04 on 46 while Bayer Leverkusen moved up to third with 44 by beating Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-0 with goals from Lucas Alario and Julian Brandt.

Hoffenheim added to VfL Wolfsburg’s problems with a 3-0 win which left their opponents in 15th place and ahead of Mainz only on goal difference.

Nico Schulz and Serge Gnabry scored for seventh-placed Hoffenheim before Joshua Guilavogui put through his own net.

Michael Gregoritsch scored twice to lead Augsburg to a 3-1 win at Hannover 96, who replied with a long-range effort from Salif Sane, while Hertha Berlin and Freiburg played out a goalless draw.

Published in Dawn, March 12th, 2018