Bayern overrun Hoffenheim 4-1 to go 10 points clear at top

Munich - Goals from Jerome Boateng, Thomas Mueller, Robert Lewandowski and Serge Gnabry secured a comfortable win

Bayern Munich crushed visitors Hoffenheim 4-1 on Saturday with four different scorers, to go provisionally 10 points clear at the top of the Bundesliga in their quest for a ninth consecutive league crown.

Goals from Jerome Boateng, Thomas Mueller, Robert Lewandowski and Serge Gnabry secured a comfortable win and lifted Bayern to 45 points, with second-placed RB Leipzig, on 35, hosting Bayern Leverkusen, in third on 32, later on Saturday.

The Bavarians were lucky not to fall behind after Ihlas Bebou twice failed to score in front of goal in the opening minutes before defender Boateng restored order when he headed in a Joshua Kimmich corner in the 32nd.

Mueller, who had hit the crossbar in the 15th minute, fired in two minutes from the break for his 10th goal of the campaign in the 43rd but Bebou partly made amends only a minute later, curling a superb cross for Andrej Kramaric to volley in and cut the deficit.

The hosts, however, restored their two-goal lead with top scorer Lewandowski tapping in a Kingsley Coman cutback for his 24th goal of the campaign.

Gnabry sealed their win with a shot from a tight angle in the 63rd, his first goal since October.