Visiting Bayern Munich crushed Stuttgart 5-1 yesterday to ease into the German Cup quarter-finals.

Bayern were firing on all cylinders after a six-week winter break and were 2-0 up after only 16 minutes.

The champions grabbed the lead when Stuttgart defender Arthur Boka's pass found Bastian Schweinsteiger outside the box and he unleashed a ferocious drive past helpless Stuttgart keeper Jens Lehmann.

Two minutes later French playmaker Franck Ribery combined well with Ze Roberto and Luca Toni before the Italian found Ribery for an easy tap-in.

The champions, cracking a fragile Stuttgart defence at will, could have added a third but Ribery's weak penalty, awarded for a handball, fell into Lehmann's arms.

Ribery quickly made amends, setting up Toni with a clever pass two minutes from the break which allowed the Italian to curl a shot past the Stuttgart keeper.

Schweinsteiger grabbed his second 10 minutes into the second half with a penalty before Ze Roberto added a fifth.

Stuttgart's Mario Gomez scored a late consolation goal.

Schembri on target

Malta international striker Andre Schembri was on target for his club Carl Zeiss Jena in their 4-1 defeat to Schalke 04.

Schalke striker Jefferson Farfan tapped in a low cross from Ivan Rakitic after 19 minutes and added a second in the 65th.

Jena pulled one back through Schembri before Rakitic and Kevin Kuranyi sealed Schalke's win.

Other results: Hamburg vs 1860 Munich 3-1; Freiburg vs Mainz 1-3.

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