Bayern Munich went into Wednesday's Champion League home fixture against group whipping boys Lille as heavy favorites - but with an imperative to win. Having slipped up against BATE Borisov on October 2, Bayern started the evening level in the group with both the Belarusians and Valencia, who faced each other in Spain.

But while Munich beat Lille away from home in the last round of fixtures, a mistake against the desperate French side could have left them with two tricky games to get out of the group.

Pizarro scored three in 15 minutes

Not that they had to worry. Lille were lily-livered from the start, as was illustrated when their defensive wall collapsed before a free-kick from Bastian Schweinsteiger in the fifth minute.

The rest of the French defense followed suit over the next embarrassing half-hour, during which Bayern scored four more goals, three from Claudio Pizarro. The Peruvian striker's 15-minute hat-trick was the third fastest in Champions League history, but it seemed to happen at a stroll.

His first came in the 18th minute, after a little one-two with Franck Ribery flummoxed the Lille defenders on the edge of the area, and low shot beat a hapless Mickael Landreau in the visitors' goal.

Pizarro's second and third goals, meanwhile - in the 28th and 33rd minutes - both came courtesy of crosses from his captain Philipp Lahm - one low that was deftly clipped in by the heel, the second high, which the unmarked Peruvian nodded in before chuckling sheepishly to himself.

In between - in the 23rd minute - there was time for an Arjen Robben free-kick to deflect off Florent Balmont and bounce apologetically past the wrong-footed and forlorn Landreau.

Limp Lille

That left it 5-0 after 33 minutes, a score-line that didn't change until the 58th minute, when Lille's Ivorian striker Salomon Kalou - a Champions League winner with Chelsea in this very stadium last season - re-lived some of the old glory by shrugging off Javi Martinez and slamming a brilliant shot into the top corner.

Robben made it 3-0 with a slightly lucky free-kick

The rest of the game petered out at training pace, with substitute Toni Kroos completing the scoring in the 66th minute, when he collected a ball from Lahm at the edge of the area and sent a low shot into the far corner.

Though there was no late flurry from either hosts or guests, referee Ovidiu Hategan did show Bayern a series of annoying yellow cards - for Schweinsteiger, Anatoliy Timoshchuk, and Ribery, who was farcically cautioned for time-wasting during his substitution. It was the only blemish on a mid-week stroll in the park for the Bavarians.

The result leaves Bayern level on nine points with Valencia, who ended up beating BATE 4-2. Group F's two top sides play each other in Valencia on November 20.