(Football news) Bayern Munich extended their lead to nine points at the top of the table as they beat VFB Stuttgart 5-0. The Bavarians, who secured the unofficial "autumn championship" ahead of the three-week winter break and are chasing a record-breaking 10th consecutive Bundesliga crown as currently they have 40 points from 16 matches. Bayern were struggling with a long list of injuries, including Leon Goretzka, Corentin Tolisso and Joshua Kimmich as even when Kingsley Coman had to be taken off injured in the 27th minute but that didn’t stop Bayern from being back to their ruthless best. 

For Bayern, Serge Gnabry had six efforts on goal in the first half alone as he put them in the lead in the 40th minute as he curled a shot into the far top corner and later grabbed his second goal in the 53rd. Gnabry then  turned provider and found Lewandowski who brilliantly chipped the ball over keeper Florian Muller. For Bayern's third goal in the 69th minute, Gnabry again teed up the Polish striker with an unselfish cutback in the 72nd for his second of the night and his 18th goal of the Bundesliga campaign. Serge Gnabry then got his reward for being unselfish, scoring his hat-trick in the 74th to complete the rout and round out a man of the match performance with three goals and two assists.

"Serge scored an outstanding goal, scored another two in the second half and then added two more assists, Both those assists were extremely good, very difficult to play them like that. Serge is just an outstanding player who had been playing a bit less than he deserves recently due to a back problem but today did it really, really well."  Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann said

Also read: Bundesliga: Bayern look to extend their lead against Stuttgart as Dortmund are playing catch up

Robert Lewandowski is on the verge of breaking Gerd Muller’s Bundesliga record for goals scored in a single calendar year. Lewandowski's two goals meant he equalled Gerd Muller's record and he can break the record in their last league game of the year against VfL Wolfsburg. In May, Lewandowski scored in the last minute of the 2020-21 season to break Muller's record for the most Bundesliga goals in a single campaign and he has a chance on Friday to become the all time great not only for Bayern but in German football as well. This season, Lewandowski has already scored 28 goals and is on course to beat his last year's goal tally. Not winning the Ballon D'or he deserved this year has certainly awoken a different goal scoring beast and this time he's more than determined to win all trophies possible.