a mario gómez hat-trick eased last season's runners-up to a fourth straight win in group e and a place in the knockout stages.
a mario gómez hat-trick helped fc bayern münchen to a 4-0 victory at cfr 1907 cluj and a place in the uefa champions league knockout stages.
bayern travelled to romania with nine points from three group e games and their perfect record never looked in doubt after gómez struck twice inside the first 24 minutes at stadionul dr constantin rădulescu. the striker added a third in the 71st minute before fellow german international thomas müller – one of only four substitutes on an injury-hit bayern bench – tapped in a fourth in the final minute.
having struck bayern's final goal in a 3-2 home defeat of cfr a fortnight ago, gómez opened the scoring tonight with 12 minutes played, firing a close-range shot in off the bar after goalkeeper eduard stăncioiu could only parry a firm andreas ottl effort. both hamit altıntop and bastian schweinsteiger had been involved in the move which led to that goal, and the pair also combined for the second – the turkish international's measured cross from the right finding the playmaker whose cushioned header left gómez with a simple finish.
despite showing nerves defensively in the first half, cfr were not without their chances. jörg butt did well to save at the feet of roberto de zerbi, while tomás costa saw a long-range effort deflected past the post by anatoliy tymoshchuk.
sorin cârţu brought on ioan hora and edimar at the break, changes which immediately galvanised the romanian champions: de zerbi was denied by daniel van buyten's clearance off the line, butt tipped a juan culio effort over, and felice piccolo and ionuţ rada hit the woodwork in a frantic spell.
gómez was the one player to keep a head cool in front of goal, and the no33 completed his treble with a little under 20 minutes to play as he took yet another pass from the excellent schweinsteiger in his stride and slotted in. the fourth owed itself to defensive uncertainly as a number of cfr players failed to clear the ball, allowing müller to steal in and poke in a fourth. bayern now need a point away to as roma in two weeks' time to secure first place in the section, although the hard work is done.
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