Bayern Munich are now three points clear at the top of the Bundesliga after hammering a lacklustre10-manRed Bull Leipzig 3-0 at the Allianz Arena on Wednesday night.
Three first-half goals consisting of two simple finishesfrom Thiago and Xabi Alonso and a converted penalty by Robert Lewandowskimeans that the reigning champions nowgo into the winter break ahead of their nearest title rivals.
The visitorshad the better of the chances early on, andwere unlucky not to take the lead when Timo Werner flashed the ball across the six-yard box in the direction of the onrushingYussuf Poulsen, but the crosshad too much pace for the 22-year-old to tap into an open goal.
However,after the opening exchanges Bayern Munich settledandwere unluckynot go one up when Leipzig goalkeeperPeter Gulacsi spilled a fizzed-inDouglas Costa cross after he cut in from the left-hand side, butfortunatelyfor the visitors it did not fall into the path of a Bayern player.
Soon after, however, came thebreakthrough.
A low ball in from the right by Philipp Lahmfound the surging run ofLewandowski whosefirst-time shot cannoned off the right-hand post and fell nicely for Thiago who tapped the ball into an empty net with his upper thigh.
Not long after thehome side were two ahead after disastrous defensive play from Leipzig.
Naby Keita got caught in possession by Arturo Vidal in the final third and quickly offloaded the ball to Thiago,who slipped in Alonso on the edge of the area for a well placed side-foot finish past Gulacsi.
Even though down,Leipzig showedfight straight after and could have been back in itwhenWilli Orban had his header expertlysaved by ManuelNeuer, but things went from bad to worse from the resulting cornerfor the Bulls.
Emil Forsberg was shown a straight red card after sliding and stamping on the back of Lahm's left leg to stop a lightning quick break away from the home side.
The first-halfdid not get much better for the visitors whenGulacsi was penalised for taking Costadown in the area.
There was a hint of offside as the 26-year-old Brazil internationallooked to have started his run too early before Mats Hummels' long ballover the top, but the flag stayeddownand Lewandowski converted from the spot to make it 3-0 at the break.
Thesecond half started in the same vein asthe first finished with Bayern controlling the possession and creating themajority ofthe chances.
Lewandowski had an excellent opportunity to get his second of the night and the host's fourthwhen he was played in behind by Costa -beating Leipzig's offside-trap -only for his shot to be brilliantly save by onrushingGulacsi.
The Polish international was then denied again by Leipzig's goalkeeper who just did enough todeflectthe 28-year-old's attempted lob over the bar after lovely link up play with team-mate Franck Ribery allowed the Bayern striker to get through one-on-one.
Late on Ribery had thechanceto put the icing on the cake but his powerful left-footed shot smashed the underside of the bar and bounced-back from thegoal-line back into play.
The tie did not live up to close contest it was built up as being and Bayern Munich really showed the difference in class still between themselves and the Bundesliga newcomers.