Bayern run riot

Bayern Munich tore Werder Bremen to shreds in a 7-0 win that extended their lead at the top of the Bundesliga to seven points.

Bayern Munich tore Werder Bremen to shreds in a 7-0 win that extended their lead at the top of the Bundesliga to seven points ahead of second-placed Bayer Leverkusen's meeting with Borussia Dortmund. Assani Lukimya gave Bayern a hand by scoring an own goal in the 21st minute, but Ballon d'Or candidate Franck Ribery soon took charge of the match to inspire Bayern to a convincing victory. Daniel van Buyten made it two in the 27th minute before the Frenchman got his name on the scoresheet to give Bayern their biggest half-time advantage of the season so far. He then teed up Mario Mandzukic to make it four before Thomas Muller put Bayern 5-0 ahead. Ribery added a sixth before Mario Gotze completed the rout to both compound Bremen's misery and help assert Bayern's authority on the Bundesliga once again. Bremen started the game solidly but, once their defence was breached for the first time, with more than just a small portion of misfortune, the game transformed. Ribery sent in a low cross from the left and Lukimya, who tried to divert it wide of his own goal, contrived to send it instead past his own goalkeeper Raphael Wolf to undo all the good work Bremen had done up to then. Aaron Hunt twice went close for the hosts, who did not lack courage, but they did not display the kind of efficiency and incision which Bayern showed when doubling their lead in the 27th minute. Toni Kroos sent in a cross for Van Buyten, who scored his first goal since November 2011 with a header into the far corner. The game was effectively over when Bayern struck a third on the counter-attack in the 38th minute. Mandzukic sent Muller clear down the right and his low cross found Ribery completely unmarked in front of the Bremen goal, where he beat Wolf with aplomb from only five yards out. Things took a turn for the worse for Wolf, who had been assured of his place in the Bremen goal at least until the turn of the year by Bremen coach Robin Dutt, when Ribery delivered another low cross from the right for Mandzukic to make it four early in the second half. The ball appeared to be a little behind the Croatian, but he managed to hook the ball in with his trailing leg for his ninth goal of the season. Bayern were making it look easy and Gotze teed up Muller to make it 5-0 with 20 minutes remaining. Ribery piled on the misery with a sixth for the Bavarians in the 83rd minute when he accepted an assist from his closest friend in the Bayern team, David Alaba, to score inside the near post from six yards out. Bremen were praying the full-time whistle would come sooner, but Gotze still wanted to get his own name on the scoresheet and did so to complete Bremen's biggest ever home defeat.