BERLIN: Harry Kane claimed his 33rd league goal of the season and Thomas Mueller scored twice as Bayern Munich hammered Union Berlin 5-1 away in the Bundesliga on Saturday.
Just a week after Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen broke Bayern’s 11-year title run, the visitors were dominant and clinical in the German capital.
Kane blasted in an excellent free-kick and laid on a second-half goal for Mathys Tel and has now 51 goal involvements in all competitions this season, his best-ever mark.
In the Bundesliga, the England captain is eight shy of Robert Lewandowski’s single season record with four games remaining.
Bayern rested star attacking midfielder Jamal Musiala after Wednesday’s 1-0 win over Arsenal sent them through to the final four of the Champions League but they had no difficulty creating chances against the Union defense.
Handed a rare start, French teenager Tel set up Leon Goretzka’s 29th-minute opener, with Kane scoring a superb free-kick in first-half stoppage time.
Mueller, playing his 470th Bundesliga game for Bayern, scored both of his goals in the second half, either side of a strike from Tel.
Union, who faced Real Madrid and Napoli in the Champions League this season, pulled one back late through Yorbe Vertessen, have now won just one of their past eight and sit three points clear of the relegation places.
Earlier , RB Leipzig tightened their grip on fourth place, the final guaranteed Champions League spot, with a 2-1 win at Heidenheim as Lois Openda scored his 23rd goal of the season.
Leipzig striker Benjamin Sesko opened the scoring shortly before half-time, pouncing on some disorganized defending from the home side for his 10th league goal this term.
Heidenheim, who have beaten Bayern Munich and drawn with Dortmund twice in their first season in the top division, struck back with 20 minutes remaining, Nikola Dovedan heading in following a free-kick.
Leipzig, who are in a battle with Champions League semifinalists Dortmund for fourth place and host them next week, grabbed the winner with five minutes remaining when Openda tapped in a Mohamed Simakan pass.
Leipzig sit three points clear of Dortmund who host champions Bayer Leverkusen on Sunday. Fourth place is guaranteed to play Champions League but fifth could also qualify due to the strong performances of German sides in the competition this season.
RB captain Willi Orban was pleased his side made it through an “incredibly difficult match,” telling Sky “plenty of top sides have dropped points here, but we’ve taken all three — it was deserved.”
Elsewhere, a hat-trick from Borussia Moenchengladbach’s Robin Hack was not enough as his side lost 4-3 at Hoffenheim.
Hoffenheim led 3-1 midway through the second half before Hack scored twice in 11 minutes to level the score with just a minute remaining, but Anton Stach scored in stoppage time for the home side to snatch victory.
Bottom side Darmstadt won their first league match since October, beating second-last Cologne 2-0 thanks to goals from Oscar Vilhelmsson and Cristoph Klarer.
Despite the win, Darmstadt remain 10 points from safety with four games remaining.
Cologne’s chances of beating the drop are falling fast. They are five points away from 15th-placed Bochum, the final safe spot.
Bochum lost 1-0 at Wolfsburg, with Ralph Hasenhuettl’s side winning thanks to a goal from Jonas Wind.
Wind’s goal deepened Bochum’s woes a week after sacking coach Thomas Letsch, with the side just one point clear of the relegation spots.
Mueller bags brace, Kane hits goal 33 as Bayern thump Union
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Mueller bags brace, Kane hits goal 33 as Bayern thump Union
- Just a week after Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen broke Bayern’s 11-year title run, the visitors were dominant and clinical in the German capital
- Mueller, playing his 470th Bundesliga game for Bayern, scored both of his goals in the second half, either side of a strike from Tel
Forest boss Pereira makes perfect start with Fenerbahce rout in Europa play-offs
- Pereira became Forest’s fourth boss this season after agreeing an 18-month deal to replace the sacked Sean Dyche
- He made an instant impact as the Premier League strugglers powered to an impressive victory in Istanbul
LONDON: Vitor Pereira made a dream start as Nottingham Forest manager with a 3-0 win against Fenerbahce in the first leg of the Europa League play-offs on Thursday.
Pereira became Forest’s fourth boss this season after agreeing an 18-month deal to replace the sacked Sean Dyche on Sunday.
He made an instant impact as the Premier League strugglers powered to an impressive victory in Istanbul thanks to goals from Murillo, Igor Jesus and Morgan Gibbs-White
Forest’s dominant display puts them in pole position to finish the job in the second leg at the City Ground on February 26.
If they reach the last 16, Pereira’s side would play Real Betis or Midtjylland.
Perched perilously just three points above the Premier League relegation zone, Forest’s main aim is to avoid dropping into the Championship.
But extending their first European campaign since 1995-96 would be a notable feat for a club starved off continental success since the Brian Clough era.
Pereira had been out of work since being sacked by Wolves in November after a dismal start to this season.
Managing Forest is hardly a guarantee of job security however.
Dyche, axed last week, was in charge for just 114 days.
His departure followed the end of Ange Postecoglou’s 39-day reign in October, which came after Nuno Espirito Santo, sacked in September, lasted just 21 months at the helm.
Pereira has worked with volatile Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis during his spell with Olympiacos.
But to survive at Forest he needs to hit the ground running and victory over his former club Fenerbahce was a step in the right direction.
Pereira made two changes for his debut, bringing Jesus and Murillo into the starting line-up.
Murillo’s return proved an inspired move by Pereira as the Brazilian center-back opened the scoring in the 21st minute.
- Rampant Forest -
Bursting forward with intent, Murillo held off two challenges before lashing a superb low strike past Ederson into the far corner from 25 yards.
Fuming Fenerbahce boss Domenico Tedesco was booked for protesting after his side were denied a penalty when Anderson Talisca’s shot hit Murillo on the arm.
Forest rubbed salt into Tedesco’s wounds in the 43rd minute.
Gibbs-White flicked on Elliot Anderson’s corner at the near post and Jesus pounced to head in from virtually on the goal-line.
Jesus’ seventh goal in the Europa League this season sucked the spirit from Fenerbahce and Gibbs-White notched Forest’s third goal in the 50th minute.
Jesus beat the offside trap and unselfishly squared to Gibbs-White, who slotted home despite losing his footing while shooting.
In Thursday’s other early first leg ties, Santiago Castro’s ninth-minute goal gave Italian side Bologna a 1-0 win at Norway’s Brann.
Zakaria El Ouahdi inspired Genk’s 3-1 win at Dinamo Zagreb.
Bryan Heynen put the Belgian club ahead in the 15th minute and Morocco wing-back El Ouahdi doubled the visitors’ lead six minutes later.
Dion Beljo got one back in the 44th minute, but El Ouahdi bagged his second goal in second-half stoppage-time.
Iago Aspas and Williot Swedberg scored in the first half to fire Celta Vigo to a 2-1 victory at PAOK, who reduced the deficit through Alexander Jeremejeff after the interval.
Later on Thursday, Celtic boss Martin O’Neill will take charge of the 1,000th match of his managerial career when Stuttgart visit Glasgow.
Lille host Red Star Belgrade, Ludogorets Razgrad face Ferencvaros and Panathinaikos meet Viktoria Plzen.
