Robert Lewandowski continued his relentless goal-scoring streak with a hattrick as ten-men Bayern Munich outclassed VfB Stuttgart 4-0 in the German BundesLiga on Saturday afternoon.
The Bavarians played 80 minutes of the encounter with a player deficit due to Alfonso Davies’ 12th-minute dismissal.
The 20-year-old Canada international’s yellow card was upgraded to red following a video review.
The full back had his studs up and buried in the knee of Stuttgart’s Wataru Endo.
The tricky situation did not stop Lewandowski from claiming his 40, 41 and 42 goals of the season, the 32-year-old
Polish striker converted Serge Gnabry’s cross for 1-0 on 18 minutes and completed his hat trick on 39 minutes by converting Leroy Sane’s pass as all four goals came in the first half.
Ganbry had put Bayern two up midway into the first period as Bayern made it six wins on the trot.
In Spain, Real Madrid also successfully navigated a tricky Celta Vigo side, defeating the Galicians 3-1 at their Balaidos stadium thanks to Karim Benzema’s first half double.
The French striker has scored 23 goals in all competition this season and his man of the match performance was completed with an assist for Marco Asensio.
The 25-year-old’s second goal in successive matches added gloss to the result in added time and propelled Zinedine Zidane’s side back to second spot on La Liga table, one point ahead of Barcelona who have played a game less.
