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Artists Bayern in sparkling form as Lille await

Bayern, eager to take a decisive step towards the round of 16, eased past hosts Hamburg SV 3-0 in the Bundesliga on Saturday to notch their ninth league win in 10 games, bouncing back from their first defeat a week earlier.

They also saw the return of Franck Ribery after a 10-day absence with the France international looking superb and ripping Hamburg's defence to shreds.

"That is almost art, football art," beamed Hoeness after their win at Hamburg sent them seven points clear at the top of the German table. "It is so much fun just watching them play."

Last season's Champions League finalists, who were also runners-up in 2010, have unusually gone two seasons without any silverware.

"We are a few percent hungrier for a title and absolute success," Thomas Muller, who scored his seventh league goal on Saturday, told reporters.

"Our offensive players take more risks. We also defend better. But we cannot relax as we've got a very big game at Bayern," Lille coach Rudi Garcia told reporters after their 2-0 league win at Evian Thonon Gaillard on Saturday.