MUNICH: Robert Lewandowski scored a record-breaking 11-minute hat-trick to send Bayern Munich sailing into the Champions League quarter-finals with a 7-1 win at home to Red Bull Salzburg on Tuesday.
The Polish striker had three goals to his name by the 23rd minute — the earliest anyone has ever completed a hat-trick in a Champions League game — as Bayern shook off their early nerves to crush Salzburg.
“This was definitely a statement from us, and it gives us hope that there is more like this to come,” Bayern captain Manuel Neuer told Amazon Prime after his side reached the last eight for a record 20th time.
Austrian champions Salzburg had held Bayern to a 1-1 draw in the first leg, but their hopes of an upset in Munich were left in tatters when Lewandowski scored a tap-in and two penalties to send Bayern on their way to a famous victory.
With just ten minutes and 27 seconds between Lewandowski’s first and third goals, it was the fastest of the six hat-tricks the Pole has now scored in the Champions League.
“We knew we had to attack the box early today and get Lewy into the game because he is so hard to defend against,” said Thomas Mueller.
“We all knew how important this game was today. If we had been knocked out, it would have been a very sad next three months for us,” he added.
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