Bayern Munich boss Niko Kovac felt his side played with “zest” and “verve” and were deserved 6-0 winners against Mainz.

There was no Champions League hangover for Bayern as they returned to the top of the Bundesliga table in emphatic style on Sunday.

James Rodriguez scored a hat-trick while Robert Lewandowski, Kingsley Coman and Alphonso Davies were also on the scoresheet for the reigning champions as they bounced back from their midweek home defeat to Liverpool.

The win, Bayern’s 13th in their last 14 league games, saw Kovac’s team move back above rivals Borussia Dortmund on goal difference at the summit.

“A compliment to the lads. We’re pleased we’re at the top again. We saw a lot of zest today, a whole lot of verve, very many good moves,” Kovac told the club’s official website.

“Taken altogether it was a deserved win and the right margin of victory. Now we can work calmly and with focus in the two-week international break.”

Thomas Muller, one of five changes Kovac made to the side that were knocked out of the Champions League four days ago, emphasised the importance of Bayern bouncing back quickly – especially after Dortmund’s injury-time win 24 hours previously.

He said: “We absolutely wanted to turn in a good display, we had ambitious plans after Wednesday. We wanted to take our chances and strike back.

“Dortmund did their homework yesterday evening. I’m glad we got into the game so well. We were clearly superior from the start. The way we played was just fun, we were flexible and exploited the space well.

“It was important to improve our goal difference in the last three matches. The table is looking better than in the first half of the season of course.”

Mainz became the second successive side to lose 6-0 at the Allianz Arena in the Bundesliga, following Wolfsburg last weekend, and boss Sandro Schwarz said: “We conceded an early goal.

“We had good moves up front from the 15th to the 25th or 30th minute. Taken altogether it wasn’t enough. We only escorted them for long spells, without really tackling with bite.

“That’s why we suffered the same fate as a few teams have done over the last few weeks. We conceded the goals too easily.”