Bayern Munich were on easy street long before the final whistle as Sadio Mane and Serge Gnabry got among the goals in a sharp league win.
Julian Nagelsmann saw the Bayern Munich he was looking for as the reigning champions crushed Freiburg 5-0 to leapfrog their visitors into second place in the Bundesliga.
It took just 13 minutes for Serge Gnabry to fire Bayern ahead at the Allianz Arena, heading home the rebound after Leroy Sane’s fine save.
Julian Nagelsmann’s side suddenly looked like champions again as they entered the game seventh in the table. Gnabry runs alone on the edge of the box in the 21st minute and shoots, but Mark Flekken clears him and sends it away from the Freiburg goal.
But despite Flekken’s best efforts, Bayern had their second just after the half-hour mark when Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting shrugged off Matthias Ginter to latch onto Sane’s pass and find the back of the net to make it 2-0.
Sane and Gnabry were well and truly in the races, adding relentless panache and pace to Bayern’s attack, which continued to wear down Freiburg. Gnabry forced another fine save from Flekken shortly before half-time, who did well to reduce the deficit to just two goals.
Bayern didn’t let up after the break and picked up where they left off, playing as they should and dominating Christian Streich’s side. Sane finally got into the game just seven minutes into the second half and made it 3-0 with a brilliant, curling effort from the edge of the box that left Flekken helpless.
Gnabry was relentless in his pursuit of another goal, but when he wasn’t denied by Flekken, he was denied by the woodwork. However, just minutes after hitting the post, he curled a superb pass past Sadio Mane to make it 4-0.
With the result all but assured, Bayern weren’t done. Freiburg’s wholesale changes stopped the rot for a time, but did not bring them any closer to finding solace in Munich. Instead, it was Bayern substitute Marcel Sabitzer who came off the bench to produce a miserable fifth after an exceptional, crazy run from Gnabry.
A much-needed win for Nagelsmann’s side extends their unbeaten run to five games in all competitions, closing the gap on league leaders Union Berlin to just four points after a poor start to the season.
