The Polish international’s record is all the more extraordinary given that he missed several matches for injury and only made 29 league appearances, while Gerd Müller had played all 34 matches of the season. 1971-1972.
The Bavarians, easy winners of Augsburg 5-2, already sacred for two weeks, the suspense of this 34th and final day concerned the last qualifying place for Europe and relegations.
By securing a surprising 7th place, Berlin’s second club, the Union, qualified for the play-offs of the Europa League Conference.
Lower in the standings, two legendary Bundesliga clubs, Bremen and Schalke, descend to the second division. Cologne will play the play-offs against the third of the second division to save his skin.
Leipzig, Wolfsburg and Dortmund will accompany Bayern in C1, while Eintracht Frankfurt and Leverkusen will play in the Europa League.
LewanGOALski at the end of the suspense
Records are made to be broken but some seem more unattainable than others … except for Robert Lewandowski who, soon to be 33, is at his peak.
He will have left the whole suspense until the last minute. His 7th opportunity in the match was therefore the right one: in a fox of surfaces, he took advantage of a long shot from Sané pushed back by the opposing goalkeeper to slip the ball to the bottom.
With 41 goals scored this season, the Pole voted best Fifa-2020 player, wins hands down for the 4th time in a row the trophy of the “best gunner” of the Bundesliga and should also undoubtedly lift the “European Golden Boot” which rewards each season the top scorer in Europe in all championships. He is currently ahead of Lionel Messi (30 goals) and Cristiano Ronaldo (29).
“The Body”, nickname given to the Pole by his teammates for his athletic body, will once again have been the great architect of the 31st Bavarian title, the 9th in a row, even if the club’s record this year seems mixed .
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Renewal at Bayern
Even if officially, the club sets up the Bundesliga as a priority, it is for him the minimum to achieve a “correct” season. The early elimination in the German Cup against a D4 but especially in the quarterfinals of C1 against Paris Saint-Germain, still remains through the throat of this “machine to win titles”.
This last elimination has also doubly a bitter taste for Bayern, deprived in the outward journey as in the return of his lethal weapon … Lewandowski, injured.
Without a traditional beer shower, the Bavarians still received their national trophy on Saturday, the “Schale”, which they were able to exhibit in front of 250 spectators, a first for more than a year due to the pandemic.
The club, which will wear a 5th star on its jersey next year, is however entering a new era with the departure of several executives.
Heroes of the C1-Cup-Championship triplets of 2013 and 2020, David Alaba (approached at Real), Jérôme Boateng and Javi Martinez will leave the club free.
Anxious to preserve its finances, weighed down by the health crisis, Bayern does not intend to make miraculous transfers this summer after having already signed for some 65 million euros the French hope Dayot Upamecano and the prodigy coach of Leipzig, Julian Nagelsmann . The latter will replace Hansi Flick, expected at the head of the German selection after the Euro.
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Historical descents
At the bottom of the ranking, it is another part of the history of German football which is crumbling: in addition to the Schalke monument, after 30 years in the top flight and condemned for several weeks, it is Bremen who will also accompany him in the second division.
The Hanseatic club, pillar of German football for decades, winner of the cup-championship double in 2004, had not experienced relegation for … 41 years.
Cologne, for its part, will play its head in the elite in a return leg against the third of the D2 (Wednesday and Saturday), Greuther Fürth or Heidenheim.
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