Robben salutes 'best Bayern half'

The Netherlands international was in awe of his side’s performance as they sent four past Schalke in the first 30 minutes of the game

Arjen Robben has hailed Bayern Munich’s first-half performance in the 5-1 mauling of Schalke as the best he has seen since he joined the Bundesliga giants.

The Dutch attacker smashed three past Ralf Fahrmann as his side demolished Jens Keller’s men to go 20 points clear at the top of the league.

Pep Guardiola’s charges scored four goals in the first 30 minutes without reply to compound further misery on Schalke, who suffered a 6-1 defeat to Real Madrid in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Robben was in remarkable form for his side and stressed the victory will provide a huge boost for the Bavarians as they look to challenge for the Champions League while seeing out the apparent formality of retaining their domestic title.

“It was one of the best first halves I’ve seen since I’ve been here,” Robben said after the game. “We were aggressive and didn’t let them play.

“We want to stay in this form, we’re playing with so much passion. We want to carry that on in the Champions League.

“Manuel Neuer took the match ball into the dressing room but I’ve got it back now!”

Schalke coach Keller, on the other hand, felt the complete opposite about his team’s display, describing his team’s performance as a catastrophe.

“The first half was the worst thing I’ve ever seen from us. The way we have lost is catastrophic. We have played against two exceptional teams, but our performances were exceptionally bad.”

Goalkeeper Ralf Fahrmann was equally devastated, insisting the Schalke players must take responsibility for the result.

We’re all disappointed. We need to stand up and be counted, we didn’t stick to our plan. There’s nothing better than playing against Bayern here, but we didn’t deliver.

He added: “Every single one of us needs to take at look at himself – we must be men!”

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