Pizarro treble inspires six-goal Bayern

FC Bayern München muscled into pole position in UEFA Champions League Group F with an imperious 6-1 victory which ended LOSC Lille's slim qualification hopes.

Claudio Pizarro was the chief protagonist for the Bavarians, completing a 16-minute hat-trick after Bastian Schweinsteiger's early opener and Arjen Robben's deflected third. Salomon Kalou's superb second-half strike proved scant consolation for the visitors, whose miserable night was compounded when substitute Toni Kroos added Bayern's sixth to inflict Les Dogues' heaviest European loss.

Club president Uli Hoeness had demanded Bayern "sweep aside" their French opponents, but even he could not have expected the ferocity with which the Bundesliga leaders began. Thomas Müller had already been denied when clean through before Schweinsteiger curled in a measured free-kick to start the scoring with five minutes gone.

Müller blazed another good chance over shortly after, but a second was not long in coming as Pizarro exchanged passes with Franck Ribéry on the edge of the box before firing an unstoppable finish past Mickaël Landreau for Bayern's 500th European Cup goal.

It turned into a first half to forget for the Lille goalkeeper, who was left standing as Florent Balmont unwittingly deflected Robben's free-kick into his own net for number three. Captain Philipp Lahm then twice combined with Pizarro to ensure the Peruvian international, only in the side owing to Mario Mandžukić’s illness, claimed the third-fastest hat-trick in the competition's history with a neat near-post finish and subsequent header.

It could easily have been six or seven by the break but for fit-again duo Robben and David Alaba each spurning opportunities. Bayern hence missed out on the honour of becoming the first team to better AS Monaco FC's five-goal first-half haul against RC Deportivo La Coruña two days shy of nine years ago.

Naturally, Bayern's intensity dropped following the restart, but if Kalou's fine strike in off the bar was a warning against complacency, last season's beaten finalists responded admirably as Kroos slotted in the sixth from another Lahm assist.

Fellow substitute Xherdan Shaqiri and Robben each wasted further chances to add to the tally, yet Lille, who are left to concentrate on earning a UEFA Europa League berth in their final two fixtures, were spared. Bayern can secure qualification for the last 16 with victory at Valencia CF on matchday five.