Bayern
Munich coach Pep Guardiola is not expecting five goals in nine minutes from
Robert Lewandowski when he takes his side to Mainz this Saturday, but one or
two more from the Polish striker would not go amiss.
Lewandowski
netted the quickest hat-trick, four and five goals during Bayern’s 5-1 win over
Wolfsburg on Tuesday night.
“It
was like in the NBA,” Guardiola said. “Like Steph Curry – it was three-pointer
after three-pointer after three-pointer.
“I
don’t think we’re going to experience a situation like it again for as long as
we live.
“Many
thanks for it. I hope he scores many more goals for us.”
Lewandowski’s
achievements put Bayern on the brink of equaling a record they share with their
hosts this weekend, of seven consecutive wins at the start of a season.
It
took them two points clear at the top and on course for a fourth successive
Bundesliga title, but Guardiola is not counting his chickens.
“There
are certain grounds where it’s always very, very difficult to win and Mainz is
one of these,” said the Catalan coach.
Indeed,
while Bayern may have won on their last three visits to Mainz, they lost 2-1
there in 2009 and were beaten 3-2 in the same city two years later.
“Bayern
don’t like coming here,” said Mainz’s general manager Christian Heidel to Sport1.de.
“Apart from maybe one exception they’ve never had it easy here.
“But
we are up against probably the best team in the world. All I can promise is
that we will give it our all and we won’t give up before we’ve started.”
Hatching
a plan for halting Lewandowski will be one of Mainz’s priorities, with Heidel
admitting he could hardly believe what he was witnessing on Tuesday.
“I
just hope he’s tired,” Heidel said. “I hope he doesn’t have a game like that
every time.
“I
felt a bit sorry for Wolfsburg. They had a really good first half and then
didn’t quite know what had happened.
“They
practically lost to just one player.”
If
Lewandowski is tired, or rested for Bayern’s Champions League tie with Dinamo
Zagreb on Tuesday, Guardiola always has a comparably strong alternative to take
his place.
That
could be Kingsley Coman, who opened his Bayern account last weekend, or Douglas
Costa, who has settled in well since arriving in Munich this summer.
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