Bayern in Top-Form, Says Robben After Hamburg Rout
Bayern Munich goal-scorer Arjen Robben has said the Bavarian giants are hitting top form after they demolished Hamburg 5-0 in the German league.
After a faltering start to the season, Bayern produced an impressive display on the third weekend of the Bundesliga campaign on Saturday as Robben and fellow star winger Franck Ribery ran the Hamburg defense ragged.
The result leaves Bayern second in the Bundesliga after three games behind surprise early leaders Borussia Moenchengladbach.
After Belgium defender Daniel van Buyten opened the scoring by converting a Robben free-kick, Ribery scored the second before Robben turned Hamburg's defense inside out and chipped the goalkeeper to make it 3-0 after 34 minutes.
In the second-half, Germany striker Mario Gomez, last season's top scorer in the Bundesliga, opened his league account for the season with the fourth on 56 minutes.
Replacement Ivica Olic produced a diving header to make it 5-0 with 10 minutes left to play and Robben said there was not much more his side could have done better.
"There were no areas for improvement," said the Dutchman having come off after 66 minutes with the score at 4-0 after admitting he is still struggling with a back injury.
"If you really want to be critical, you could say we should have scored more often, but we can be very pleased with the football we’ve played.
"For me personally, it was a little bit better again, but there’s still pain.
"I kept feeling pain in the second half, so it was better to come off.
"It won’t go away completely for a little longer yet."
Having seen his team lose their opening league game two weeks ago at home to Moenchengladbach, coach Jupp Heynckes hailed the rout as his team's best performance since he took charge in July.
"It was definitely our best display of the season so far," he said.
"We can all be very satisfied with the result and especially with the way we’ve played.
"The team was extremely determined right from the start and I’m especially pleased about the clean sheet.
"We stopped them creating any chances at all.
"We never let Hamburg get going and we were focused from the off."
With one point from his first three games and having conceded ten goals in the process, Hamburg's coach Michael Oenning is already under pressure having only just taken charge.
"That defeat really hurts," he admitted.
"As the game went on, we couldn’t even do the simplest things properly, it was shocking.
"Stopping Ribery and Robben was incredibly difficult and at some point, our confidence was shot.
"The only positive aspect is that we know we’re in a critical situation now."
Hamburg's director of sport Frank Arnesen backed Oenning and his squad but admitted Bayern were irresistible.
"This is a world-class team, but I also have to say we didn’t play well against them," he said.
"We believe in our players and our coaching staff, and we’ll do what has to be done for us to improve in our forthcoming matches."
Source: Agence France Presse
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