Bayern beat Freiburg 5-0 on Jupp Heynckes' return

Bayern Munich marked the return of veteran coach Jupp Heynckes with an emphatic 5-0 win over Freiburg to get their hopes of retaining the Bundesliga title back on track.

Heynckes, 72, signed a deal until the end of the season following the departure of Carlo Ancelotti, and he inspired a comfortable win with goals from Kingsley Coman, Thiago, Robert Lewandowski, Joshua Kimmich and an own goal.

It meant Bayern could keep the pressure on Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund and return to winning way after two previous games in which they had dropped points after giving up two-goal leads.

Struggling Freiburg threatened to pile more woe on the favourites in an encouraging opening spell in which they had the first real chance, Florian Niederlechner setting up a chance for Ryan Kent who fired straight at Sven Ulreich after six minutes.

Bayern responded to the early scare with Arjen Robben forcing a low save out of Alex Schwolow, before David Alaba played an integral role in putting the hosts in front with eight minutes on the clock.

The Austrian seized on a mistake by Kent in midfield to surge down the left wing and cross into the box where Thomas Muller's shot took a slight deflection off Freiburg defender Julian Schuster on its way into the net.

Bayern piled on the pressure in search of a second, with the busy Thiago bringing another save out of Schwolow and Javi Martinez heading just wide moments later.

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Coman's swift counter-attack resulted in a shot which was saved by the Freiburg keeper after 21 minutes, and both Robert Lewandowski and Robben had chances as the home side dominated proceedings.

They were given a wake-up call in the 36th minute when the visitors threatened an equaliser, Christian Gunter finding space to cross into the box for Mike Frantz, who should have done better with a diving header which grazed the post.

Muller had a penalty appeal turned down as the game drifted towards half-time, but Bayern finally extended their lead three minutes before the break when Schwolow made a mess of dealing with a Robben cross into the box and flapped it to Coman, who headed home from close range.

The one-way action continued after the break with Lewandowski gaining in influence and Robben coming close with a trademark long-range effort after cutting inside from the right.

Thiago made it 3-0 in the 63rd minute with a drilled finish from 25 yards, effectively ending any fears of a third consecutive game in which the hosts might surrender a two-goal advantage.

Lewandowski made it four 12 minutes later after Muller seized on a Freiburg mistake in midfield to find the unmarked Pole who had the simplest of tasks to slot past Schwolow.

Bayern substitute Corentin Tolisso brought another fine save out of the busy Schwolow as the game headed into the final 10 minutes, before Kimmich rounded off an impressive win by blasting home his side's fifth deep into injury time.