BERLIN - Bayern Munich coach Louis van Gaal insisted on Saturday Holland's Arjen Robben and France's Franck Ribery are just as important to the German champion as Lionel Messi and Xavi are to Barcelona.

Dutch star Robben netted twice as he combined with Ribery to inspire Bayern's 4-0 win over Hoffenheim at Munich's Allianz Arena, which moved Bayern up to third in the Bundesliga.

Flying Dutchman Robben and midfield maestro Ribery - dubbed "Robbery" by the German media - tore Hofffenheim to pieces and van Gaal insists the pair are Bayern's answer to Argentina's Messi and Spain's Xavi.

"With Robben and Ribery, we have far more creativity," said van Gaal.

"They are unbelievably important to Bayern, like Messi and Xavi for Barcelona or Ronaldo and (Mesut) Ozil for Real Madird.

"We have waited six months for them to both be fit to play for us together again."

Bayern's Germany striker Mario Gomez opened the scoring with his 17th league goal of the season as he brushed off last week's knee injury to convert his chance after just two minutes after being set up by Robben.

His Germany teammate Thomas Mueller then put the hosts 2-0 up on 15 minutes after a strong run through the Hoffenheim defence by Ribery.

Robben then turned from goal-provider to goal-scorer when he netted twice in the second half to give him four goals from four games after only recently coming back from a thigh injury which kept him out until January this season.

With league leaders Dortmund drawing 1-1 with Kaiserslautern on Saturday night, Bayern's win leaves them 13 points from the top while Dortmund's lead at the top of the table has been cut to 10 points.

Second-placed Leverkusen got back to winning ways after last week's shock defeat at mid-table Nuremberg when it won 3-0 at Eintracht Frankfurt.

Midfielder Simon Rolfes, Brazil's Renato Augusto and Hanno Balitsch scored the goals as ex-Germany captain Michael Ballack spent the entire game on the bench as he works his way back to fitness after four months out with injury.

Agence France-Presse

(China Daily 02/14/2011 page23)