FC Bayern Munchen News

Javi Martinez has vowed that he will continue to improve at Bayern Munich in the upcoming months after a middling start to life in the Bundesliga.

The Spain international joined Die Roten from Athletic Bilbao for €40 million in August but has initially struggled to live up to the high expectations.

Nevertheless, the 24-year-old midfielder is pleased with his recent improvement, and is determined to keep on getting better.

“I was lacking a bit of sharpness before, but I’m feeling better with every training session and every match,” Martinez was quoted as saying on the official Uefa website. “I think it’s only going to get better for me in the future.”

The holding midfielder looked back with delight at Bayern’s performance in their 6-1 Champions League win over Lille on Wednesday night.

“We’re feeling really good right now. I think it was an important result for us because there were three teams all on six points and now [Bayern] have nine.

“We still need to fight hard against Valencia and BATE, but this was an important step.”

Bayern currently sit second in Group F with nine points from four games, level on points with Valencia but behind the Spanish side on goal difference.

We are now two-thirds of the way through the group stage of the Champions League this season, and we were spoiled with yet more excitement over the past two days. Malaga and Porto defied the odds to become the first two clubs to qualify for the knock-out phase of the competition on Tuesday, but it appeared to be another week to forget for English sides as both Arsenal and Manchester City were found out.

Yet Wednesday posed contrasting fortunes for the British Isles, with Celtic, Manchester United and Chelsea all restoring pride on the continent. Elsewhere, Bayern Munich’s 6-1 demolition of Lille was a particular standout, while Juventus crushed Nordsjaelland to record their first win of the campaign. And, Goal.com is here to present you with the players who lit up the European stage in our Team of the Week.

Between the sticks, Fraser Forster deservedly keeps his place in our line-up following another world-class performance against Barcelona to inspire Celtic to an historic 2-1 triumph. In defence, Philipp Lahm‘s charges down the wing against Lille, which resulted in three assists, see him selected at right-back. On the opposing flank is Lorenzo Melgarejo, who added another dimension to Benfica’s attacks with his overlaps, and Portugal’s efforts were further recognised by Nicolas Otamendi, who led from the back to send Porto through. Partnering the Argentine is PSG star Alex following his goal and no-nonsense showing at Dinamo Zagreb’s expense.

Moving further afield, our three-man midfield includes Bastian Schweinsteiger, whose stunning free kick and aray of passing helped the Bavarians to their rout. Shakhtar Donetsk may have lost to Chelsea in the dying seconds, but that did not stop Fernandinho from orchestrating his side’s play, assisting countryman Willian before using his vision to find Darijo Srna for the second goal. The last piece of the jigsaw is Claudio Marchisio, who produced an all-action display for Juventus, finding the target in the process.

Week four saw strikers all over Europe press their claims for a spot in our dream team. Zlatan Ibrahimovic was experimented in a deeper role for Paris Saint-Germain’s visit of Dinamo Zagreb on Wednesday, with coach Carlo Ancelotti concerned about his club’s lack of creativity in the final third, and it proved a masterstroke as the 30-year-old set up all four of PSG’s goals. However, it was a little more straightforward for his strike partners Burak Yilmaz, who scored the perfect hat-trick in Galatasaray’s 3-1 win over Cluj, and Bayern’s own three-goal hero, Claudio Pizarro.

Jupp Heynckes hailed his side’s “clockwork” performance after they dispatched Lille 6-1 and moved a step closer to reaching the knockout stages of the Champions League.

A Claudio Pizarro hat-trick and goals from Bastian Schweinsteiger, Arjen Robben and Toni Kroos swept the Ligue 1 club aside and left the 67-year-old coach thrilled with what he had witnessed.

“Naturally, I’m thoroughly satisfied with our performance as a team,” he said.

“I think we could all see my team were very motivated and very focused going into the match. Everything went like clockwork for us in the first-half. We saw textbook passing and wonderful finishing.”

Much of that ruthless streak was applied by Peruvian striker Pizarro, who hit one of the fastest hat-tricks in the history of the competition.

And the former Chelsea striker claimed his side’s strong start had set the tone for the evening.

“We played extremely well and applied pressure from the start,” he added.

“The early goal was important. I hope we can keep it up and keep on winning like that.”

Arjen Robben agreed Bayern’s assertive approach in the opening stages paved the way for what turned out to be a resounding win.

“It was a superb game [and] the goals came at just the right moments,” the winger told reporters.

“Especially in the first-half, it was football at its best. But we have to keep both feet firmly on the ground.

“Lille weren’t very strong today [but] it’s great at the moment and it’s going perfectly. We need a performance like that in every match.”

The result leaves the Bundesliga club second in Group F on nine points, level with Valencia and three ahead of BATE Borisov.

Bayern Munich knocked Lille out of the Champions League with a resounding 6-1 victory, thanks in no small part to Claudio Pizarro’s 15-minute hat-trick.

It was the fourth fastest treble in the competition’s history and added to early free kicks from Bastian Schweinsteiger and Arjen Robben to send the Bavarians in at half-time with a five-goal lead.

Salomon Kalou replied with a fine individual goal after half-time, but substitute Toni Kroos steered in another for die Roten to kill off any optimistic hopes of a French fight-back.

Thomas Muller had an opportunity to put the hosts ahead after three minutes but goalkeeper Mickael Landreau held his nerve to save well, yet a foul on Schweinsteiger in the immediate aftermath meant that les Dogues could not rest on their laurels.

And indeed they were made to pay when Schweinsteiger majestically swept in the dead ball from 20 yards.

Muller again wasted a gilt-edged opportunity two minutes later when he blazed well over the bar, before Nolan Roux sent a header over the crossbar from Mathieu Debuchy’s cross at the other end.

But Bayern soon put the game to bed when Pizarro exchanged a sharp one-two with Franck Ribery on the edge of the area and fired low into the bottom corner, before a Robben free kick deflected in off Florent Balmont.

Pizarro got across his man to turn home Philipp Lahm’s low cross to notch his second at the near post after 28 minutes, and it was soon going to get worse for the visitors.

After a five-minute period of brief respite for the Lille defence it was 5-0 when Pizarro nodded home another right-wing cross from Lahm to wrap up his 15-minute treble.

Robben broke through on the counterattack and looked set to add the sixth goal, but Landreau was equal to his delicate chip. Despite the threat of that Bayern counter, Lille went forward again three minutes before the break, but Roux’s shot was deflected wide.

Moments later the visitors were almost punished after committing too many men forward once again. This time David Alaba won possession deep in his own half, stormed forward, exchanged passes with Ribery and curled the ball just wide of the far post.

Out of nowhere, Kalou burst past Javi Martinez and lashed a fierce strike in off the underside of the crossbar 13 minutes into the second half.

The disappointing Muller was withdrawn just after the hour mark and replaced by Kroos, who wasted no time in getting die Roten back to scoring ways.

Lahm again burst into space in an advanced position down the right and cut the ball back for the Germany international to slot the ball home from the edge of the area.

Robben was gifted three superb opportunities to add to the scoreline as the game drew to a close, but each time he was thwarted. First his shot was blocked following a fine Xherdan Shaqiri flick, before he was twice denied by the out-rushing Landreau, who stood up well as the Dutchman bore down on goal.

Bayern’s performance was a signal of intent to the rest of Europe, who will no doubt be wary of last season’s beaten finalists on this showing. Lille, on the other hand, showed exactly why they have been knocked out of the competition without a point to their name.

Legendary Bayern Munich coach Ottmar Hitzfeld believes Jupp Heynckes will sign a new contract at the club.

The 67-year-old’s current deal at the Allianz Arena expires at the end of this season, and although the former Real Madrid boss hinted that he may end his career, the Switzerland trainer thinks he will stay.

“He will renew his contract,” Hitzfeld told Bild. “He makes every player feel like part of the whole group. That keeps the motivation high and forces competition.

“If you always play with the same 11 players, there is the danger that you get a two-class society. At Bayern, this is not the case and the coach is reliable. Heynckes looks very lively.”

Hitzfeld also claimed former coach Louis van Gaal is still angry about his sacking in 2011, after the Dutchman claimed Uli Hoeness tried to force him out of the club.

“You can tell he is still mad that about being sacked by Bayern. It is always bad if a coach is resentful. I was not really sympathetic about that interview.”