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Bayern Munich beat home Benfica (5-1) on Tuesday to qualify for the last round of the Champions League and ease pressure on coach Niko Kovac.
Arjen Robben and Robert Lewandowski both scored two goals before Franck Ribery completed the rout at the Allianz Arena after Gedson Fernandes reduced Benfica's lead once again.
The Kovac team ignored the dull shape of the league: they have won only twice and lost three of their last eight Bundesliga games, with a convincing result.
"These goals were important not only for me, but also for the team," Robben said.
"We played well, found the right tempo, well attacked and we did not concede much.
"It's a convincing win and it's exactly what we needed at the moment."
The win eases pressure on Kovac, who must now win another victory at Werder Bremen on Saturday in the league.
"We all know how it works in football, but we win together and lose together, the coach is one of us, we work intensively together every day," added Robben.
This is the 11th consecutive season that Bayern has reached the last 16 games of the Champions League.
While Bayern are fifth in the Bundesliga, they play in Europe after four wins and one draw in the UEFA Champions League group stage.
They need only one point in Ajax in the two weeks to win Group A, while the best that Benfica can hope for is third and a place in the playoffs of the Europa League.
Bayern was unrecognizable from the team that scored goals in a 3-3 draw against Fortuna Duesseldorf, struggling in the Bundesliga on Saturday.
After 13 minutes, Robben managed to create a remarkable talent for his 30th goal in the Champions League.
There was nothing to do when the Dutch veteran hit three defenders on the right wing, cut another and hit the upper left corner with a superb shot.
The 34-year-old doubled Bayern's lead thanks to German Conti, the Benfica defender, and crashed his shot at Odysseas Vlachodimos in 30 minutes.
The third goal followed six minutes later, when Lewandowski reached the top for a corner and allowed the 50th goal of the Champions League to return to the goal via the post.
Bayern opened the scoring at 3-0, but it could have been five. Vlachodimos had to double down twice by Thomas Mueller and Lewandowski.
However, the defensive mistakes that stained their recent performances came back to haunt Bayern right after the break.
Benfica boss Rui Vitoria recruited Portuguese international Gedson Fernandes for the second period and the teenage midfielder took just 48 seconds to score.
Gedson sprinted on a pbad and finished a counterattack past Manuel Neuer to knock out the hosts.
Bayern restored their cushion of three goals five minutes later when Lewandowski headed back to another Kimmich corner.
Ribery wrapped up a gala evening with David Alaba pbading the ball to score Bayern's fifth goal 13 minutes into the game and claim his first Champions League goal for more than three years.
Woo-Yeong Jeong, a 19-year-old South Korean teenager, made his Bayern Munich debut at the age of death.
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