Dante (l., celebrating with Manuel Neuer) got FC Bayern up and running in the 19th minute against Freiburg
Dante (l., celebrating with Manuel Neuer) got FC Bayern up and running in the 19th minute against Freiburg

Business as usual for Bayern against Freiburg

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Munich - FC Bayern München eased to their 13th consecutive Bundesliga win with a 4-0 victory over SC Freiburg at the Allianz Arena.

Dante strikes again

First-half goals from Dante and a Xherdan Shaqiri brace had the defending champions firmly in the driving seat by half-time, and Claudio Pizarro applied the final touch to a comfortable victory in the closing minutes. The league leaders have still not dropped a single point since drawing at Leverkusen on 5 October and the win over Christian Streich's team takes their record Bundesliga unbeaten run to 46 games. Freiburg remain just outside the bottom three, but could be overtaken by 1. FC Nürnberg if they win at FC Augsburg on Sunday.

Proceedings got off to their now-familiar start in Munich as Bayern dominated possession from the off, but the visitors' aggressive pressing game was proving effective early on and they looked threatening on the odd breakaway themselves. It was the hosts who broke the deadlock with 19 minutes on the clock, however. Diego Contento picked up a loose ball following a Toni Kroos free-kick and his cross from the left was headed in at the far post by Dante – the Brazil international's fourth goal in his last seven competitive outings and the tenth of his eleven in the Bundesliga to come by way of a header.

Freiburg sought to respond immediately, a break down the right ending with an attempt from Jonathan Schmid from a very tight angle that didn't trouble Manuel Neuer. From there on in, the guests from the South West found themselves increasingly under pressure and after holding firm for a further quarter-hour, they were beaten again by a fine Bayern move on 34 minutes. Claudio Pizarro freed up Shaqiri down the left with a back-heel and the Swiss international raced through to finish past Freiburg keeper Oliver Baumann, his shot taking a slight deflection off defender Oliver Sorg on the way.

Comeback for Schweinsteiger


With the half-time interval fast approaching, the Munich Reds effectively sealed the points with goal number three, Kroos storming into the box and laying off for Shaqiri, whose shot bounced off Thomas Müller right in front of Baumann before finding its way into the net. Three down at the halfway mark, Freiburg to their credit stuck to their gameplan after the restart as the Bayern passing machine maintained its relentless accuracy.

With just under half an hour to go, Bastian Schweinsteiger made his long-awaited comeback from injury, replacing two-goal Shaqiri, and it was a comfortable enough return to action for the midfield star as the game now slowly wound down. Sub Sebastian Kerk missed a good chance to pull one back for Freiburg when one-on-one with Neuer in the 69th minute, but the final goal of the contest would also be Bayern's, Pizarro rounding things out nicely with a precise finish into the corner on 88 minutes.

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