Toni hits four as Bayern book UEFA knock-out berth Written by: AFP  |  |
| | Bayern Munich´s Italian striker Luca Toni celebrates after scoring his third goal vs Aris Thessaloniki during their UEFA Cup football match in Munich. Bayern won 6-0 with four goals from Toni. |
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BERLIN (AFP) - Italian World Cup winner Luca Toni weighed in with four goals to gift-wrap Bayern Munich's place in the UEFA Cup's first knock-out stage in the 6-0 rout of Greek side Aris on Wednesday night.
This was the win Bayern desperately needed having won just two of their last nine games in all competitions, prior to Wednesday night, including two draws in the UEFA Cup's Group F.
But the win gives the under-pressure Germans the perfect end to their 2007 fixtures and sees Bayern finish as group winners to go through to the last 32 teams with Bolton Wanderers and Sporting Braga.
It has been a difficult few weeks for Bayern with captain Oliver Kahn suspended for last Saturday's 0-0 Bundesliga draw with Hertha Berlin and fined 25,000 euros (36,000 US dollars) for criticising team-mates Franck Ribery and Toni.
Kahn slammed the pair for - in his opinion - inconsistent performances, but Toni made a mockery of that notion by scoring two goals either side of half-time as the Greeks were hammered.
He has now scored 17 goals for Bayern since his summer switch from Fiorentina and is worth every cent of the 12 million euros (17.2 million US dollars) having rewarded the Germans for the investment in him.
Partnering German striker Miroslav Klose in coach Ottmar Hitzfeld's strongest possible line-up, Toni wasted no time putting his side ahead.
Both first-half goals, on 25 and 38 minutes, came from Ribery's creativity in midfield and after the break, Ribery again combined with the Italian after a mix-up in the Greek defence for his hat-trick on 64 minutes.
German international defender Philipp Lahm set up Toni's fourth just two minutes later before fellow defender Christian Lell bagged Bayern's fifth and then Lahm completed the rout with a simple tap in on 81 minutes.
Having hinted about his desire to leave Bayern after too much time amongst the substitutes, Lukas Podolski, voted the best young player at last year's World Cup came off the bench for the tenth time to set up the last two goals.
The win puts Bayern top of Group F with eight points with Braga second and Bolton third, both with six points.