Robert Lewandowski scores hat trick as Bayern rout Bremen

Robert Lewandowski scored his second hat-trick in eight days as Bayern Munich began the defence of their Bundesliga title with a 6-0 mauling of Werder Bremen.

Lewandowski scored three in last Friday's 5-0 DFB-Pokal thrashing of Carl Zeiss Jena and he repeated the feat against Bremen as Bayern enjoyed a flying start to the 54th Bundesliga season.

Xabi Alonso got things rolling for Carlo Ancelotti's men with an early opener and two Lewandowski goals gave the home side a 3-0 lead at the start of the second half.

Captain Philipp Lahm got in on the act before Franck Ribery made it five and Lewandowski completed his hat-trick from the penalty spot, piling on the misery on a Bremen side who were eliminated from the DFB-Pokal in the first round last week.

Bayern may have a new coach on the bench this season, with Ancelotti replacing Pep Guardiola, but there was nothing new about their approach to the game with Thomas Muller, Lewandowski and Ribery seeing plenty of the ball as the hosts went straight on the attack.

And barely nine minutes had been played when Alonso became the scorer of the opening Bundesliga goal of the 2016-17 season.

The man Ancelotti sold to Bayern while he was in charge at Real Madrid in 2014 struck a sweet volley from almost 25 yards which visiting keeper Felix Wiedwald could not keep out with his fingertips.

It was the Spaniard's third goal in the Bundesliga and a sign of things to come.

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Muller, Lewandowski and Ribery all saw shots blocked by some desperate Bremen defending as the hosts looked to turn the screw with only 10 minutes on the clock.

That pressure turned into a second goal in the 13th minute when Lewandowski picked up Ribery's long pass as the Bremen offside trap failed and curled his shot into the far corner of Wiedwald's goal.

The Poland international, who topped the scoring charts with 30 goals last season, should have made it 3-0 after half an hour when Muller's shot came back to him off the post, but he lifted his effort over the gaping goal.

He went even closer in the 39th minute when his shot deflected off Wiedwald's foot up onto the crossbar from Muller's pass.

It was third time lucky for Lewandowski when he finally did notch his second of the night 42 seconds into the second half, sticking out a leg to turn in Muller's cross from six yards out.

Muller was the provider once again for Lahm to make it four midway through the second half, the Bayern captain's shot striking the far post on its way in.

Ribery then got his name on the scoresheet in the 73rd minute as Bayern matched the scoreline by which they had beaten Bremen in the league last season

They bettered it when Maximilian Eggestein was deemed to have fouled Rafinha in the penalty area and Lewandowski completed his hat-trick -- and a resounding Bayern victory -- from the spot.