Ancelotti’s delight as Bayern’s rivals stumble

BERLIN: Carlo Ancelotti cautiously admits the Bundesliga title is effectively Bayern Munich’s to lose after they opened a 10-point lead on Saturday as their two closest rivals slipped further behind.

Robert Lewandowski netted twice in a 3-0 home win against Eintracht Frankfurt while second-placed RB Leipzig crashed to a 1-0 defeat at home to Wolfsburg and Borussia Dortmund lost 2-1 at Hertha Berlin.

Bayern have now hit 28 goals in their last six games, with Lewandowski claiming 10 of them, and the Bavarian giants are on course to collect a fifth straight German league title in Ancelotti’s first season.

Despite Ancelotti’s cautious approach and with ten games left, it will take a collapse for Bayern to be denied a fifth title in a row.

The German giants are also well-placed to complete a treble of Champions League, Bundesliga and German Cup titles.

It is nearly four months since Bayern’s last defeat — a 3-2 loss at Rostov in the Champions League on November 23.

Thomas Mueller admitted Bayern took a while to hit their stride after Tuesday’s impressive 5-1 win over Arsenal put them in the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

But Frankfurt were floored by a devastating burst from Bayern just before half-time at the Allianz Arena.

Lewandowski converted Mueller’s pass on 38 minutes, then Douglas Costa added a second three minutes later to put Bayern 2-0 up at the break.

Poland hot-shot Lewandowski netted his 33rd goal this season — his 21st in the league — on 55 minutes by converting Arjen Robben’s final pass.

Bayern’s iron-grip on the Bundesliga tightened with help from their rivals.

In Leipzig, second-placed RB crashed to a 1-0 defeat at home to Wolfsburg as Germany’s Mario Gomez scored the winner.

Thomas Tuchel rotated after Wednesday’s 4-0 win at home to Benfica as third-placed Dortmund suffered a Champions League hangover with a 2-1 defeat at Hertha Berlin which leaves them 16 points behind Bayern.