German champions Bayern Munich retained their four-point cushion at the top of the Bundesliga with a 4-0 home rout of Stuttgart on Saturday. – By Madellene Kalunda.
High flying Robert Lewandowski netted a hat-trick after they had Alphonso Davies sent off early on.
The result left Bayern top on 61 points from 26 games with second-placed RB Leipzig on 57 before their highly anticipated meeting on 3 April after the international break.
Davies was shown a straight red card in the 12th minute for a studs-up challenge on Wataru Endo but Lewandowski fired them ahead five minutes later.
Serge Gnabry made it 2-0 in the 22nd after a sweeping move involving Thomas Müller and Leroy Sané. Lewandowski added the third less than 60 seconds later when he rose to head home a Müller cross from the right.
The Poland striker added some gloss in the 39th minute with a clinical left-footed finish from inside the penalty area as he pounced on sloppy defending by Stuttgart after Sané’s jinking run down the right flank.
Bayern took their feet off the pedal in the second half but despite their numerical disadvantage, they still dominated as Lewandowski and Gnabry missed chances to give them an even bigger win against the hapless visitors.
Erling Haaland continued his rich vein of form as he netted twice including a late equaliser to salvage a 2-2 draw for Borussia Dortmund at Cologne in the Bundesliga on Saturday.
The result left fifth-placed Dortmund losing ground in the hunt for a top-four finish as they have 43 points from 26 games, four less than Eintracht Frankfurt in fourth who celebrated a 5-2 home win over Union Berlin.
