Munich, Oct 24 (IANS) Bayern Munich humbled Viktoria Plzen as Franck Ribery and his teammates showed no mercy to the Czech club in the Champions League group stage.
Bayern established a three-point lead atop the standings in Group D following a faultless and dominating 5-0 performance at the outsold Allianz Arena here Wednesday, reports Xinhua.
About 68,000 spectators witnessed a one-sided affair as the Bundesliga front-runners controlled the proceedings. Ribery’s brace and goals by David Alaba, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Mario Goetze ensured the third victory in as many matches.
Despite the high outcome of the encounter, Bayern needed about 25 minutes to open the scoring against deep defending visitors. Nonetheless, a foul play penalty by Roman Hubnik gave Ribery the opportunity to convert the opener from the spot into the bottom right.
Once the Germans had built up their momentum, Alaba was able to double the lead just 12 minutes later when he finished a combination from the edge of the box into the near post corner.
Nothing changed in the second half as the Bavarians started exactly there where they left off.
Ribery tripled the lead with a solo run and goal inside the box which he rounded off with a brilliant chip over rushing but helpless goalkeeper Matus Kozacik in the 61st minute.
Only three minutes later, Schweinsteiger made use of Goetze’s square pass to score with a turn shot near the penalty spot to beat Kozacik. However, the hosts were not done with the scoring as Goetze, who was fielded in the 63rd minute, marked the final score in the dying minutes of the game.
“We mainly need to improve our style of play in the Bundesliga. I am still happy with our performance,” Bayern coach Pep Guardiola said.
Bayern lead Group D with nine points followed by Manchester City, CSKA Moscow and Viktoria Plzen.
