‘Bayern deliver message with 8-0 rout’

Coach Flick says massive victory is a sign that German treble winners are in superb form

MUNICH:

Bayern Munich delivered a message to the rest of the Bundesliga that the treble winners are in superb form, coach Hansi Flick said on Friday following an 8-0 demolition of Schalke 04 in their season opener.

Bayern started their league campaign with a bang as they scored three times by the 31st minute to kill off the game with their stunning pace and deadly finishing.

"It was superb from us. Before the game we wanted this to be a game that would define where we are at this stage and my players did it very well," Flick said.

"We wanted to show that in this season again we are here."

Yet Flick was quick to point out that it was just one game in a long and crowded season to come.

"We just had the first game. Let us go slowly here. But it was important to show we are on the right path."

It was a record win for an opening Bundesliga game and came less than a month after Bayern clinched the Champions League title to complete the treble. They have won the last eight German league titles in a row.

"Bayern were in sensationally good form," said Schalke coach David Wagner, whose team has failed to win any of their last 17 league matches.

"At the moment Bayern are most likely the world's strongest team. They showed that today.

"We did not play well at all. We now need to shake it off and show a reaction (next week)."

Gnabry grabbed his first goal for the hosts with a fine turn and shot in the fourth minute in what turned out to be a one-sided affair that stretched Bayern's unbeaten run to 31 games this year, having now won the last 22 matches in a row.

Schalke, without a league win since January, were helpless against Bayern's lightning-quick game and Leon Goretzka found plenty of space to drive a low shot past keeper Ralf Faehrmann in the 19th minute. Last season's top scorer Robert Lewandowski found the net with a 31st-minute penalty to become the first player to score in 10 successive appearances against the same Bundesliga opponents.

Gnabry then scored twice from Sane's assists in the 47th and 59th before Thomas Mueller made it half a dozen.

Sane then capped a superb Bayern debut with a fine finish from a counter attack before substitute Jamal Musiala drilled in goal number eight to become the youngest ever Bayern scorer in the league at 17 years old.