Football: Bayern are on a roll, says four-goal Gomez

Striker pleased after side’s 7-0 rout of Basel in Champions League.

MUNICH: Germany striker Mario Gomez smashed four goals in Bayern Munich’s 7-0 rout of FC Basel on Tuesday and insisted his team have big ambitions as they marched into the Champions League’s last-eight.

“We still have big goals and we’ve achieved nothing yet,” said Gomez, who with ten goals is second only to Barcelona’s Lionel Messi, who has 12, as the Champions League’s top-scorer.

Gomez scored in a 23-minute spell, equalling the 2003 record set by AS Monaco striker Dado Prso for the quickest four-goal haul in the competition.

Having come to Germany holding a 1-0 lead from the first-leg three weeks ago, Basel’s dreams of reaching the Champions League’s last-eight for the first time were rudely awakened as they lost the tie 7-1 on aggregate.

Munich’s Allianz Arena hosts the Champions League final on May 19 and Bayern’s emphatic second-leg victory puts them in Friday’s quarter-finals draw.

This was the biggest win in a Champions League knockout match as records tumbled and Bayern bettered their 7-1 home win over Sporting Lisbon from the 2009 competition, also in the round of 16.

Gomez has now scored seven goals in his last two games having netted a hat-trick last Saturday when Bayern beat Hoffenheim 7-1 at home. Winger Arjen Robben, who scored twice against Basel, has now scored four in two games, while Thomas Mueller also netted against the Swiss.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 15^th, 2012.