Bayern Munich hit seven past Basle, as Inter Milan exit

MARIO Gomez hit four goals as Bayern Munich swiftly eliminated the threat of a Champions League exit before humiliating Basle 7-0 last night.

The German club, whose Allianz Arena will stage the European final in May, had been embarrassed by a 1-0 loss to Basle three weeks ago at St Jakob Park. But they turned it around in style in, sealing a 7-1 aggregate triumph to progress to the quarter-finals.

On Saturday, Bayern beat Hoffenheim 7-1 and Gomez hit three. Last night, the Germany striker went one better against the Swiss league leaders, profiting from the superb promptings of team-mates Thomas Muller, Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery, an attacking midfield trident the envy of most coaches in this competition.

Robben opened the scoring on ten minutes with a low blast from 12 yards into the bottom right corner. It was 2-0 after 42 minutes thanks to a Muller volley and Basle were floored when Bayern scored their third two minutes later, Gomez with a close-range finish.

Any fading hopes in the Basle camp were put to rest inside five minutes of the second half as Gomez scored his second.

His hat-trick arrived on the hour and he had his fourth after 65 minutes with a fierce shot into the top right corner. Robben passed the ball home for No 7.

In Italy, substitute Brandao’s stoppage-time goal sent Marseille through to the quarter-finals at the expense of Inter Milan despite a 2-1 loss last night.

Inter Milan striker Diego Milito leveled the aggregate score at 1-1 in the 75th minute and the match looked set to go into extra time before Brandao scored in injury time.

Inter still had time to score again through a penalty by substitute Giampaolo Pazzini, but it wasn’t enough and Marseille advanced on away goals.