Lewandowski hails Bayern team effort as champions Flick away Eintracht threat

Robert Lewandowski vowed to keep targeting the quick kills as his hat-trick helped Bayern Munich crush Eintracht Frankfurt 5-0 in the Bundesliga.

Lewandowski, who scored 34 goals in 31 league games last season, already has 10 in five matches this time around – the most by any player in the history of the competition at this early stage.

He had Bayern two clear in just 26 minutes, with a classy left-footed finish followed by a superb header, and there was little doubt from that point that Hansi Flick’s side would take maximum points.

Lewandowski completed his hat-trick in the second half before two substitutes, Leroy Sane and 17-year-old Jamal Musiala, put the finishing touches to the rout.

“We always want to show the best football. When we have a chance of winning like today, we try to decide it early,” Lewandowski said.

“After the 3-0 win it was decided, then we were able to go down the gears a bit in the last 30 minutes.”

He shrugged off the attention on his own performance and said Bayern, with Bundesliga and Champions League targets, need to avoid over-working themselves.

“The statistics are not that important to me, I am focused on the team and the game,” Lewandowski said. “In the current time, with a game every three days, you also have to be careful. We have an enormous number of games by the end of the year.”

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Flick said the victory was all the more special because it came in the wake of a Champions League victory over Atletico Madrid.

He made four changes from the side that beat Atletico 4-0 and used five substitutions, testing the depth of his squad and finding it met his needs.

“Victories in the Champions League are all the more beautiful when you win in the Bundesliga afterwards,” Flick said, quoted on Bayern’s website.

“We have to measure the stakes and take the players out earlier so that they don’t always have to go 90 minutes.”

Lewandowski only had five shots, but four hit the target and three beat Eintracht goalkeeper Kevin Trapp, who had little chance with any of the goals.

Trapp said: “Lewandowski didn’t need a lot of chances today and scored three goals. Still, I thought we did pretty well, at least in the first half.

“In the end, you have to say that they played well and deserved to win. Lewandowski is definitely one of the best in the world.”

Bayern did however suffer a blow with the loss of Alphonso Davies to an ankle ligament injury.

The Canada international appeared to stumble on the pitch, going down awkwardly, and was substituted inside the opening five minutes, a miserable moment for the teenager who faces six to eight weeks on the sidelines, according to Flick’s early understanding.

Davies made 29 Bundesliga appearances last term, with Bayern winning 23 of those matches, scoring 87 goals; the versatile wideman netted three times, providing five assists and creating 37 chances.