Augsburg 1 Bayern Munich 3: Lewandowski brace stretches Bayern´s lead

Bayern Munich moved eight points clear at the top of the Bundesliga on Sunday, with Robert Lewandowski’s brace helping to seal comfortable 3-1 Bavarian derby victory at struggling Augsburg.

Lewandowski gave the defending champions an early lead, pirouetting and superbly firing into the bottom corner after Thomas Muller’s low cross picked him out in a pocket of space.

Bayern’s second goal came in the 62nd minute, Lewandowski timing a run on to Thiago’s throughball perfectly to slot in his 11th goal against Augsburg, who he has now scored more goals against than any other Bundesliga club.

A hat-trick evaded Lewandowski but the striker was involved in Bayern’s third goal, with Muller tucking in his 15th league strike of the season, before Raul Bobadilla’s neat finish earned Augsburg a late consolation. 

Augsburg are one of only two sides to beat Pep Guardiola’s Bayern more than once in the Bundesliga but the relegation-threatened club remain only a single point above the bottom three after their defeat.

Guardiola named David Alaba and Joshua Kimmich as his centre-backs after Holger Badstuber’s broken ankle intensified the club’s defensive injury crisis, while Franck Ribery made his comeback. Markus Weinzierl recalled Philipp Max, Jeffrey Gouweleeuw and Piotr Trochowski.

Bayern, whose players wore t-shirts showing their support for Badstuber ahead of the game, had the first chance of the match but Thiago shot well over the crossbar after nine minutes.

Guardiola’s men did not have a long wait for the opening goal, which arrived after just 15 minutes, with Lewandowski on target.

Muller’s pass found the Poland international in space in the penalty box and he turned Dominik Kohr superbly before picking out the bottom corner for his 20th league goal of the season.

Lewandowski went close to doubling Bayern’s lead after 21 minutes but he placed his 20-yard shot just wide of Marwin Hitz’s post after Philipp Lahm worked the opening with superb skill.

Jeong-Ho Hong then glanced Trochowski’s corner wide before Muller headed a cross straight at Hitz and Arjen Robben’s low shot was easily saved by the Augsburg goalkeeper.

With the final kick of the first half, Douglas Costa’s powerful free-kick was kept out well by Hitz, who saved again from the Brazil international moments after the resumption.

Two nasty head injuries in quick succession saw Arturo Vidal substituted and then Alaba play on after appearing to lose both a tooth and a contact lens following a collision with Jan Moravek.

Their players may have been the worse for wear, but soon after Bayern doubled their lead.

Lewandowski raced on to a precise throughball by Thiago just after the hour-mark and the striker beat Hitz from close range to record his fourth double in his last five matches.

With Augsburg winless in the Bundesliga in 2016 it seemed unlikely they would find a way back into the game and the hosts almost fell further behind when substitute Rafinha forced Hitz into a flying save, the goalkeeper then denying Robben brilliantly.

Muller scored a late winner against Augsburg in the reverse fixture and he sealed an easy three points after 78 minutes, slotting in after Douglas Costa’s cross caused panic in the Augsburg box.

Bobadilla’s tidy strike gave Augsburg hope of a late fightback but the goal proved to be a mere consolation for Weinzierl’s men.