Sandro Wagner orchestrates thumping Bayern Munich win over Borussia Mönchengladbach

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Sandro Wagner scored twice as Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich warmed up for Tuesday's DFB Cup semi-final against Bayer Leverkusen with an emphatic come-from-behind win over Borussia Mönchengladbach.

Bayern Munich 5-1 Borussia Mönchengladbach

Goals: 0-1 Drmic (8'), 1-1 Wagner (37'), 2-1 Wagner (41'), 3-1 Thiago (51'), 4-1 Alaba (67'), 5-1 Lewandowski (82')

With the likes of James Rodriguez, Robert Lewandowski Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben beginning the game on the bench, Bayern were punished for a slow start when Josip Drmic skipped inside of Niklas Süle and curled beyond Sven Ulreich to give Gladbach the early lead. Thomas Müller had chances, before a much-improved Bayern levelled. Süle was the unlikely catalyst, dinking a cute ball over the top of the Gladbach defence for Müller, whose low cross was met by the unmarked Wagner. Lewandowski's understudy doubled up moments later, catching Borussia stopper Yann Sommer cold with a looping header.

James entered the fray at the start of the second half, the Colombian making an instant impact as Bayern extended their lead. It was the Real Madrid loanee's exquisite long ball that started an incisive move which saw Wagner denied his hat-trick by Sommer, only for Thiago to sweep in the rebound from close range. James struck the woodwork, before David Alaba lashed in a picture-book strike on his weaker right foot. Bayern were all over Gladbach like a rash, but only had one more effort to show for their dominance, substitute Lewandowski converting Joshua Kimmich's inch-perfect cross to bring up his 27th Bundesliga goal of the campaign.

Match stats

    Bayern coach Jupp Henyckes, who won four Bundesliga titles with Gladbach in the 1970s, set a new Bundesliga record for most appearances as a player and coach (1044).Lewandowski is now on 104 Bundesliga goals for Bayern. Only Claudio Pizarro has scored as many times for one club (Werder Bremen).Wagner has scored seven goals in his last eight Bundesliga outings for Bayern, including a league-high six headers.Thiago has scored nine of his 12 Bundesliga goals to date at Bayern's Allianz Arena.Drmic scored in a game he started for the first time in over two years.Gladbach midfielder Tobias Strobl made his first appearance since May 2017, after recovering from a serious knee ligament injury.

Line-ups

Bayern: Ulreich - Kimmich, Süle, Hummels, Alaba (Rafinha 72') - Rudy - Müller (c) (James 46'), Tolisso, Thiago, Bernat - Wagner (Lewandowski 70')
Unused subs: Starke, Ribery, Martinez, Robben
Absentees: Neuer (foot), Coman (ankle), Vidal (joint capsule)
Coach: Jupp Heynckes 

Gladbach: Sommer – Elvedi, Ginter, Vestergaard, Wendt (c) – Kramer, Zakaria (Strobl 81') – Hazard, Drmic (Cuisance 65'), Hofmann (Grifo 65') – Raffael
Unused subs: Sippel, Benes, Jantschke, Mayer
Absentees: Doucoure (thigh), Stindl (suspended), Villalba (thigh), Herrmann (ankle)
Coach: Dieter Hecking

As it happened