Bayern win again, evergreen strikers on target in Bundesliga

Runaway Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich won 4-0 at Freiburg on Sunday and veteran strikers Claudio Pizarro and Mario Gomez scored to boost their chances of World Cup recalls. Bayern, chasing a sixth successive title, opened up a 20-point lead over Schalke 04 with nine games to go. Peruvian forward Pizarro became the fourth oldest player to net in the Bundesliga when he gave Cologne an early lead at home to VfB Stuttgart before Germany's Gomez replied with a brace to lead the visitors to a 3-2 win.

#Bundesliga appearances: 2⃣7⃣8⃣ Goals: 1⃣0⃣2⃣ Assists: 1⃣0⃣6⃣

Thomas Müllers: 1️⃣ ??? #MiaSanMia pic.twitter.com/49CCqEvkl5— FC Bayern English (@FCBayernEN) March 4, 2018

Pizarro, 39, put bottom-of-the-table Cologne ahead after seven minutes and has now scored at least one Bundesliga goal in each of the last 20 years. Cologne dominated, threatened a second but were floored when Gomez, 32, scored twice in three minutes before halftime. Andreas Beck added a third for Stuttgart in the second half before a Milos Jojic free kick gave the Billy Goats a glimmer of hope five minutes from time but it was not enough.

Sandro #Wagner makes it three, and scores @FCBayernEN's 1500th away goal in the #Bundesliga ? #SCFFCB pic.twitter.com/5YycxdOFMG

— Bundesliga English (@Bundesliga_EN) March 4, 2018

Pizarro has never taken part at a World Cup as Peru have not qualified since 1982 and he last played for his country in March 2016, but coach Ricardo Gareca has not entirely ruled out the forward. Gomez missed the last World Cup after an injury-plagued season but is hoping to convince Germany coach Joachim Loew to take him to Russia. Cologne have 17 points, eight adrift of safety, while Stuttgart climbed to ninth with 33.

.@esmuellert_'s goal against Freiburg today draws him level with Dieter Hoeneß on #FCBayern's list of all-time scorers in the #Bundesliga! #MiaSanMia pic.twitter.com/0OjhWgFdcp

— FC Bayern US (@FCBayernUS) March 5, 2018

Bayern were gifted the lead at Freiburg by an Alexander Schwolow own goal in the 25th minute and Corentin Tolisso added another three minutes later. Sandro Wagner and Thomas Mueller completed the rout in the second half.RESULTS:Cologne 2 (Pizarro 7, Jojic 87) Stuttgart 3 (Gomez 45, 45+2, Beck 57)Freiburg 0 Bayern Munich 4 (Schwolow 25-og, Tolisso 29, Wagner 54, Mueller 69)Bundesliga table after Sunday's matches (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points):Bayern Munich            25 20  3  2 59 18 63Schalke 04               25 12  7  6 39 30 43Dortmund                 25 11  9  5 50 31 42Eintracht Frankfurt      25 12  6  7 33 27 42Bayer Leverkusen         25 11  8  6 45 33 41RB Leipzig               25 11  6  8 38 34 39Hoffenheim               25  9  8  8 40 38 35Bor. Moenchengladbach    25 10  5 10 33 37 35VfB Stuttgart            25 10  3 12 23 29 33Augsburg                 25  8  8  9 33 32 32Hanover 96               25  8  8  9 32 35 32Hertha Berlin            25  7 10  8 30 31 31SC Freiburg              25  6 11  8 25 42 29Werder Bremen            25  6  9 10 24 30 27VfL Wolfsburg            25  4 13  8 28 33 25Mainz 05                 25  6  7 12 29 42 25Hamburg                  25  4  6 15 18 35 18Cologne                  25  4  5 16 24 46 17