Guardiola hopes for more Lewandowski goals

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.