Ribery – making his first competitive appearance
in 2014 after suffering a muscular problem – was back to his best as Pep
Guardiola’s side restored their 13-point lead at the top of the table with
consummate ease.
The match was Bayern’s first at the Allianz Arena
in more than seven weeks, but the European champions, who won all 17 of their
home league matches in 2013, showed little had changed since the turn of the
year.
Mario Gotze set them on their way as early as the
12th minute with an exquisite finish and Ribery doubled his side’s advantage on
the verge of half-time.
Arjen Robben, Dante and Mario Mandzukic completed
the rout with second-half goals as Bayern made it 11 league wins in a row,
extending their Bundesliga unbeaten streak to 44 matches in the process.
Ribery and Mandzukic returned for Bayern, while
Frankfurt coach Armin Veh controversially rested defender Carlos Zambrano and
midfielder Sebastian Rode ahead of a month that sees the club play eight
matches in three different competitions.
Bayern quickly found their rhythm as Mandzukic’s
powerful effort forced a good save from Frankfurt’s Kevin Trapp in the eighth
minute, and Xherdan Shaqiri hit the outside of the post just two minutes later
after a knock-down from the Croatian centre-forward.
Gotze was next to benefit from a Mandzukic
lay-off as Dante’s long diagonal ball was played into the path of the
midfielder, who arrowed a finish across Trapp and into the bottom-left corner
from 15 yards.
Trapp made a point-blank save to deny Gotze a
second in the 23rd minute and, in a rare chance at the other end, Bayern
goalkeeper Manuel Neuer reacted sensationally to keep out a deflected shot from
Tranquillo Barnetta that looked to be looping in.
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