Robben shines as Bayern extend lead to 12 points

BERLIN - Arjen Robben underlined his status as one of the world's best midfielders as Bayern Munich went 12 points clear in the Bundesliga after Tuesday's 2-0 win over Freiburg.

Goals by Robben and Thomas Mueller sealed Bayern's win, which came at a cost as defender Medhi Benatia, striker Robert Lewandowski and midfielder Xabi Alonso picked up injuries.

Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge had described Robben as the "best outfield player in the world" after the Dutch winger scored twice in Bayern's 4-0 thrashing of Augsburg last Saturday.

The 30-year-old shone again in another superb display to head home Bayern's opener and claim his ninth goal in 12 Bundesliga games before Thomas Mueller added Bayern's second.

With second-placed Wolfsburg playing at joint second-from-bottom Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday, Bayern took the chance to further extend their huge lead at Munich's Allianz Arena.

Only a superb display from Freiburg Roman Burki goalkeeper kept the scoreline respectable as Bayern fired in 31 shots on goal -- a Bundesliga record for this season.

With Freiburg packing their defence and Bayern enjoying more than 80 percent possession, it was only a matter of time before the hosts took the lead.

Bayern went ahead when Franck Ribery headed back across goal and Robben headed down the bouncing ball past Burki on 41 minutes.

The Bundesliga breaks for winter on Sunday and Bayern play their final game of the year of 2014 on Friday when they travel to Mainz.

The pause is well timed for Bayern, but Pep Guardiola demonstrated the depth of his star-studded squad.

Germany stars Jerome Boateng and Bastian Schweinsteiger came on for Benati and Lewandowski respectively, while Swiss winger Xherdan Shaqiri replaced Alonso.

The hosts' second goal came from a superb bit of skill.

Robben's accurate long-range pass was met by Spain's Juan Bernat, who put in a superb cross with a deft touch which Burki deflected onto the crossbar only for Mueller to head home on 48 minutes.

Left-back Bernat forced Burki into a superb point-blank range with an hour gone, then hit the post with 70 minutes gone.

In Tuesday's other matches, ten-man Stuttgart climbed out of the bottom three with a 1-0 win at fellow strugglers Hamburg thanks to Florian Klein's first-half winner.

The visitors played the best part of the second half a man down after defender Georg Niedermeier was shown a straight red for pulling back Hamburg striker Artjoms Rudnevs just after the break.

Augsburg stay fifth despite their second straight defeat as they went down 2-0 at Hanover 96 while mid-table Mainz warmed up for Friday's visit by Bayern with a goalless draw at Cologne.