Iran Press/ Europe: Robert Lewandowski marked his 100th appearance in the Champions League with his 79th, 80th and 81st goals in the competition as Bayern Munich sealed their place in the knockout stages of the Champions League by beating Benfica 5-2 at the Allianz Arena.
Further goals from Serge Gnabry and Leroy Sane secured the win and confirmed Bayern as winners of Group E with two games still remaining.
The victory, in what was Bayern's 500th game across all European competitions, means Julian Nagelsmann's men have won all four of their group games, and it is now between Benfica, Barcelona, and Dynamo Kiev to fight it out for the remaining qualifying spot.
Benfica started brightly, with Pizzi forcing a save from Manuel Neuer in the first minute before the visitors had a goal disallowed for offside against the same man in the 15th minute.
Lewandowski headed in a floated cross from Kingsley Coman at the back post to give Bayern the lead on 25 minutes on his milestone evening, and Gnabry doubled the lead six minutes later with a neat flick after a delightful ball over the top from Joshua Kimmich was pulled back by Lewandowski for the former Arsenal man to finish.
Morato headed in an Alex Grimaldo cross on 38 minutes to halve the deficit before Lewandowski saw a tame penalty saved by Odysseas Vlachodimos just before half-time.
The Bundesliga champions restored their two-goal cushion early in the second half as Sane lashed in after Alphonso Davies headed the ball down to him, before Lewandowski bagged his second and third goals of the night either side of Darwin Nunez's consolation for the visitors.
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