Robert Lewandowski maintained his magnificent goalscoring form as Bayern Munich eased to a 4-1 Bundesliga victory over Arminia Bielefeld on Saturday.

Lewandowski scored four times in Bayern's 4-3 win over Hertha Berlin in their last match before the international break and struck twice for Poland in a victory over Bosnia-Herzegovina in midweek.

The prolific striker took his goalscoring tally for the season to nine goals in seven matches with a first-half double at Bielefelder Alm after playing a big part in Thomas Muller's opener.

He then set up Muller for Bayern's fourth as the champions, who conceded to Ritsu Doan's low drive before losing Corentin Tolisso to a straight red card, made it four wins in a row in all competitions and climbed into second place.

Lewandowski played in Muller with a first-time pass in behind and the attacker converted just eight minutes in after his initial pass to Kingsley Coman - earlier denied a penalty - was cut out.

Tolisso and Muller wasted good opportunities to extend Bayern's lead before clinical striker Lewandowski did exactly that with a thumping strike from 18 yards.

The pair were at it again at the end of the first half as Muller squared to Lewandowski to score his second from a near identical position to the first, helped by a telling deflection.

Lewandowski was denied a third by the crossbar early in the second half but crossed for Muller to volley in from six yards out 100 seconds later.

Bielefeld, previously unbeaten in 10 home games in 2020, did manage to pull one back on the counter just before the hour mark through Doan's shot across Manuel Neuer.

Tolisso was then dismissed with 14 minutes to play for bringing down Fabian Klos as the last man, but Hansi Flick's men came closest to scoring the sixth goal of the match as substitute Javi Martinez nodded against the woodwork late on.

What does it mean? Bayern hot on Leipzig's heels

Bayern's 32-match unbeaten run was ended by Hoffenheim in their most recent away league outing but they have responded in style.

Flick's side are a lethal attacking force, managing 17 shots in total here as they made it 14 goals in four consecutive wins.

They are now a point behind leaders RB Leipzig, who beat Augsburg 2-0 earlier in the day.

Free-scoring Lewa unstoppable

Lewandowski has now scored 213 goals in 258 Bundesliga matches and has found the net against every Bundesliga side - including Bayern - with this double against Arminia.

He had six shots in 86 minutes on the field, half of those on target, and created a joint-high three chances for his team-mates - including key passes for Muller's two goals.

Ortega easily beaten

Stefan Ortega, formerly on the books of 1860 Munich, was beaten four times but could arguably have kept out two of those goals.

His positioning for Lewandowski's first goal was questionable and he got a touch to the striker's shot for the second, though he did make five other saves.

What's next?

Holders Bayern host Atletico Madrid in their opening Champions League group match on Wednesday, while Arminia travel to Wolfsburg in their next league outing in eight days' time.