For the first time in nine years, the race to claim the
Bundesliga title came down to the final week.
Bayern Munich were ahead of Borussia Dortmund on points [75-73]. The only way Dortmund was going to win the
title outright would be if Bayern lost to Eintracht Frankfurt and Dortmund beat
Borussia Mönchengladbach. All Bayern
needed was a draw. Even if Dortmund won
and Bayern earned only a draw against Eintracht Frankfurt, Bayern would win the
first tie breaker because they had an insanely better goal differential than
Dortmund [+51 to +35]. For the first
time since the Allianz Arena opened, Bayern would be able to win the title in
front of their home fans. The home fans
expected to see a title win on Matchday 34, and their side did not disappoint.
There had been rumblings for weeks that if Bayern won
both the Bundesliga title and the DFB-Pokal, first-year coach Niko Kovac was
walking on thin ice with Bayern management and might not be brought back for
next season despite having a three-year contract with the team. To his credit, Kovac put all that noise out
of his mind and kept telling the press that he expected to be back next
year. Since Bayern’s early season
struggles, at which point Dortmund had built a nine-point lead over the
defending champions, Kovac had also expressed confidence time and again that
Bayern would catch Dortmund and win the title.
Kovac never wavered from that single-minded focus. Dortmund had beaten
Bayern 3-2 in the first der Klassiker
on November 10th, and Bayern gave away two points to Fortuna Düsseldorf
the following week. Bayern then went on
a 13-2-1 run [which saw them score 46 goals] until the return fixture of der Klassiker on Matchday 28 [April 6th]. Bayern mauled Dortmund 5-0 and never looked
back. While Bayern rediscovered their
killer instinct, Dortmund suffered its own rash of injuries and a patch of
rough playing that allowed Bayern to climb back into the title race.
Bayern weren’t
the only ones with a stake in the outcome of today’s game. They were still playing for a chance to play
in the UEFA Champions League or the Europa League. Bayern, Dortmund, and RB Leipzig already had
a lock on the top three positions to qualify for UEFA Champions League
play. At kickoff this is how the standings
were [following RB Leipzig];
Points GD
BMG 55 +15
Leverkusen 55 +13
Frankfurt 54 +16
Wolfsburg 52 +5
At day’s end,
only one of these teams would grab the final Champions League Spot. Two
teams would get automatic places in the Europa League group stage. One team would have to play their way into
the Europa League.
When it finally came time to play the game, Bayern didn’t
waste any time getting on the board. At
four minutes, Kingsley Coman found the back of the next from a nifty assist
from Thomas Müller – 1-0 Bayern. Nine minutes later, Frankfurt goalie Kevin
Trapp made a huge save to deny a second goal from Robert Lewandowski. At twenty minutes Müller got his feet tangled
up and missed what looked like a certain goal.
At twenty-six minutes Serge Gnabry drilled the second goal past Trapp,
but upon further review Lewandowski was offside and Gnabry’s goal was
disallowed. Bayern were in control for
most of the first half.
Frankfurt
substituted striker Sébastien Haller, who was sitting on fourteen goals for the
season. Bayern had to swap out Leon Goretzka
for Renato Sanches [injury]. At fifty
minutes, Bayern’s Joshua Kimmich failed to clear a Frankfurt corner, and Haller
tied the score. Frankfurt’s celebration
didn’t last long. Two minutes later Thomas
Müller shot low at Frankfurt’s Trapp.
Trapp stopped Müller’s shot, but unable to control it, the ball
rebounded to Bayern’s David Alaba, who wasted no time in putting Bayern back
ahead 2-1. Eight minutes later Sanches
iced it for Bayern. Sanches got the ball
on the overlap on the left, blew past the defender before tucking inside and
firing through Trapp. After that goal,
Kovac substituted Franck Ribery [playing his last home game for Bayern] for
Kingsley Coman. Nine minutes later Arjen
Robben [also playing his last home game for Bayern] came on for Serge Gnabry. Then the magic happened…
At 72’, Ribery
scored in typical Ribery fashion. He
dribbled between two Frankfurt defenders inside the penalty area and lifted the
ball over Trapp – 4-1 Bayern. At 36, Franck showed that for him, age is just a
number. Seven minutes later, Robben added
his 99th career Bundesliga goal – 5-1 Bayern. It was especially sweet for Robben because he
missed almost half the season due to injury, and it wasn’t known until last
week whether he would ever take the field for Bayern again. It was a more-than-fitting
home farewell for “Robbery”. Eleven
minutes later, Bayern won their seventh consecutive Meisterschale, and it was
Paulaner beer shower time anyone connected to Bayern Munich. It was Niko Kovac’s first Bundesliga
championship as a head coach, and his first Paulaner shower. Meanwhile in Mönchengladbach, Dortmund won
2-0. They finished the day as they
started it – two points behind Bayern.
They may not have won the championship, but they had a season that exceeded
all of their expectations, and they made Bayern work for it.
As for rest of
the Bundesliga matches of consequence:
Wolfsburg 8-1
Augsburg
Leverkusen 5-1 Hertha
Berlin
Levekusen grabbed
the final UEFA Champions League berth. Borussia Mönchengladbach and Wolfsburg
made it to the Europa League automatically, while Frankfurt have to play their
way into the Europa League. Last season,
Wolfsburg were on the verge of relegation to the second division. They were saved from that fate by defeating
Holstein Kiel in the two-game relegation playoff. Last season Borussia Mönchengladbach finished
in the middle of the pack in 9th place. Now they and Wolfsburg are in the Europa
League. Last year Leverkusen finished 5th,
good enough for the Europa League. Now
they’ve moved up to play in the Champions League next season. Werder Bremen also improved from last year,
but finished just one spot behind Frankfurt.
Consequently, Werder won’t be playing European football next season. The biggest disappointment this season by far
has been Schalke. Last year they finished
2nd in the Bundesliga. This
season they fell all the way to 14th, costing coach Domenico Tedesco
his job. Despite qualifying for the
group stage of the Europa League, BMG’s coach Dieter Hecking was also relieved
of his job. Finally, both
No comments:
Post a Comment