(CNN) -- When Jupp Heynckes made his debut in the Bundesliga as a player back in 1965, the name of Bayern Munich was a new one for the nascent German soccer league.
Now as coach of the country's most successful team, he has reached a significant milestone in what will be his final season in charge.
On Saturday the 67-year-old became only the second man to rack up 1,000 Bundesliga appearances as both player and coach as Bayern took another step towards a 23rd national title with a 6-1 thrashing of Werder Bremen in front of 71,000 fans at Allianz Arena.
It was Heynckes' 631st Bundesliga game as a head coach, coming 48 years after he played his first match for hometown club Borussia Monchengladbach on the day that Bayern made a Bundesliga bow against city rival 1860 Munich.
"It's an imposing total," said Heynckes, who is behind only former Greece coach Otto Rehgal's 1,033 Bundesliga matches -- 201 of which were as a player.
Toni Kroos fired Bayern Munich into a seventh minute lead as the German side made the perfect start to its last-16 Champions League clash at Arsenal.
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Heynckes is on course for a treble of trophies, with Bayern poised to reach the quarterfinals of the Champions League after the 3-1 midweek win at Arsenal, having suffered an agonizing penalty shootout defeat by Chelsea in last season's title match despite home advantage.
He rested six key players ahead of Wednesday's German Cup clash with two-time defending Bundesliga champions Borussia Dortmund, but still had too much firepower as Bremen had a man sent off at 2-0 down and never recovered.
Mario Gomez netted twice in the second half to reach his 100th goal in a red shirt, having earlier forced Czech international Gebre Selassie into diverting a cross into his own net.
Before that the Germany striker was brought down by Sebastian Prodl as Bremen went to the interval a man down.
Javi Martinez, Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery were also on the scoresheet.
"After making those six changes, we needed 20 minutes to find our rhythm," said Heynckes, who will step down at the end of this season and be replaced by former Barcelona boss Pep Guardiola.
"Those players who came in justified my confidence in them. The game on Wednesday will be a real cup battle."
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However, he was annoyed that Bayern conceded in the league for the first time since the December 14 draw with Monchengladbach.
"We saw some nice goals out there, but we didn't reckon with conceding one."
Second-placed Dortmund will seek to cut the 18-point deficit at Gladbach on Sunday, when third-placed Bayer Leverkusen travel to bottom team Greuther Furth.
In Saturday's other games, sixth-placed Hamburg crashed 5-1 at fellow European hopefuls Hanover, while Schalke followed up the midweek Champions League draw against Galatasaray by beating Fortuna Dusseldorf as Cameroon defender Joel Matip scored twice.
Mainz drew 1-1 with fourth-bottom Wolfsburg, while Augsburg pushed Hoffenheim down to second from the foot of the table with a 2-1 win.
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Thomas Muller headed home Bayern's second after Arsenal keeper Wojciech Szczesny could only parry Daniel van Buyten's close range header.
Lukas Podolski headed Arsenal back into the tie, taking advantage of some poor defending to score against his former club just 10 minutes after the interval.
Mario Mandzukick bundled home a late third for Bayern to leave it in pole position going into the second leg in Munich on March 13.
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