Bayern edge closer to 8th straight Bundesliga crown

Berlin, May 30 (efe-epa).- Bayern Munich thrashed Fortuna Düsseldorf 5-0 on Saturday to go 10 points clear atop the Bundesliga as they pursue a record eighth consecutive title.

The reigning champions have 67 points from 29 matches. Second-place Borussia Dortmund are on 57 points with a game in hand.

Fresh off their away victory Tuesday over Dortmund, Bayern dominated from the start against 16th-place Fortuna at Munich’s Allianz Arena.

The hosts got on the board in the 15th minute when Benjamin Pavard’s shot from the edge of the six-yard box took a deflection off Fortuna’s Mathias Jorgensen and wound up in the visiting net.

Pavard made it 2-0 in the 29th, heading-in Joshua Kimmich’s corner kick.

With two minutes left in first-half regulation, Robert Lewandowski back-heeled the ball to Kimmich, who passed to Thomas Müller.

Seeing Fortuna keeper Florian Kastenmeier moving to close down the angle, Müller nudged the ball to Lewandowski and the Poland international fired into the empty net to increase the margin to 3-0.

Lewandowski got a second goal just five minutes after the re-start, converting a Serge Gnabry cross.

Alphonso Davies scored in the 53rd minute for the 5-0 and Müller squandered a chance for a sixth goal after the hour mark.

The loss leaves Fortuna with 27 points, just a point behind 15th-place Mainz and the Düsseldorf club’s hopes of staying up for a third season remain alive.

Another team fighting to avoid relegation, Werder Bremen, picked up 3 valuable points Saturday by blanking Schalke 04 in Gelsenkirchen.

Leonardo Bittencourt’s goal in the 32nd minute turned out to be all Werder would need to best foundering Schalke, who have lost all four of their games since the Bundesliga returned to action on May 16 after halting play in March due to Covid-19.

Schalke, with 37 points, fell to 10th place. Werder remain second from the bottom with 25 points.

In the capital, Hertha Berlin defeated Augsburg 2-0 to stay perfect in post-pandemic play. Javairo Dilrosun scored in the 23rd minute and Krzysztof Piatek got a goal in second-half stoppage time.

Hertha, with 38 points, moved ahead of Schalke into ninth place. Augsburg are 14th.

Eintracht Frankfurt put some distance between themselves and the drop zone with a 2-1 away triumph against Wolfsburg.

Andre Silva put Frankfurt ahead from the penalty spot in the 27th minute. The hosts pulled level at the hour mark with Kevin Mbabu’s header off a free kick by Maximilian Arnold.

Daicho Kamada got the match winner for Frankfurt with a strike from close range in the 85th minute.

Frankfurt climbed to 32 points, good enough for 12th, while Wolfsburg sixth in the Bundesliga with 42 points, ahead of seventh-place Hoffenheim by virtue of a better goal difference.

Ihlas Bebou had the lone goal Saturday as Hoffenheim beat Mainz 1-0. EFE