UCL: Bayern Munich thrash FC Salzburg

Robert Lewandowski scored three goals as Bayern Munich cruised into the Champions League quarterfinals with a 7-1 triumph against FC Salzburg

UCL: Bayern Munich thrash FC Salzburg
UCL: Robert Lewandowski hattrick as Bayern Munich thrash FC Salzburg,

MUNICH: Robert Lewandowski scored three goals as Bayern Munich cruised into the Champions League quarterfinals with a 7-1 triumph against FC Salzburg on Tuesday night at the Allianz Arena.

After a 1-1 draw with the Austrians in Salzburg on Feb. 16, the Bundesliga leaders won the tie 8-2 on aggregate.

By the 21st minute, Lewandowski had the hosts up two goals, drawing a pair of fouls in the penalty area – both against Maximilian Wober – and comfortably dispatched the resulting spot penalties to make it 2-0.

Lewandowski completed his first-half hat trick minutes later with a close-range goal, and Serge Gnabry added Bayern's fourth shortly after following a Salzburg turnover to virtually end the game nearly before it began.

Thomas Muller scored early in the second half after a Leroy Sane pass, before Maurits Kjaergaard equalized for Salzburg with a powerful shot that beat Manuel Neuer at the near post.

"This was a statement, an exclamation mark," Neuer said after the match. "We started well and presented ourselves differently from recent weeks. That gives you hope that this will go on. You could see from the start that we had a good attitude."

However, it was too little, too late for Salzburg, who were making their first knockout round appearance in Champions League history.

Muller netted his second and Sane scored two minutes later as Julien Naglesmann's team added gloss to the scoreline en route to the Bavarians' 20th Champions League quarterfinal spot.

"The game was of huge importance for us," Muller said. "Had we been eliminated today we would have faced three sad months and people would be rightly questioning things."

The outcome was the second occasion in Bayern Munich history that they scored seven goals in a UCL knockout stage encounter, the other being their notorious 8-2 quarterfinal triumph against Barcelona in 2020.

Edited - SportsAction / Inputs - Agency