Serge Gnabry netted a hat-trick as treble winners Bayern Munich crushed Schalke 04 8-0 on Friday in a sensational start to the new Bundesliga season.
With the biggest opening win in Bundesliga history, Bayern showed they had lost none of sharpness that helped them to lift the Champions League trophy less than a month ago in dominant fashion.
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 in 17 consecutive matches 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 debutant Leroy Sane’s assists in the 47th and 59th before Thomas Mueller made it half a dozen after Lewandowski set him up with an impressive rabona kick.
Sane then capped his superb Bayern debut with a fine finish from a counter attack in an empty Allianz Arena.
A little later substitute Jamal Musiala drilled in goal No 8 to become the youngest ever Bayern scorer in the league at 17 years old.
