It may have gone down to the final day, but result was the same as ever: Bayern are Champions! And, on the day, they never looked like losing, failing to lead for just seven minutes of their match with Eintracht Frankfurt. Kingsley Coman opened the scoring early on and, despite Sebastien Haller’s equalizer, Bayern’s eventual victory looked inevitable. David Alaba and Renato Sanches put Bayern 3-1 ahead before Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben, both of whom were playing their last game for the club, added a fitting ending to their illustrious Bayern careers to make it 5-1. The two-point gap may be the closest it has been since 2013, but all that matters is who is on top at the final whistle.
Borussia Dortmund will have been aware of the Bayern score as news filtered through to Borussia Park during their game at Borussia Mönchengladbach as they chased the Bundesliga title themselves. However, they didn’t let it get to them, as they put in a thoroughly professional performance to triumph 2-0. Jadon Sancho and Marco Reus, BVB’s two star men throughout the campaign, both struck as Dortmund ended the season on a good note. There will be a sense of what what could have been after they had led by nine points earlier on in the campaign, but there huge improvements have been made this year. For Mönchengladbach, the loss means that they miss out on Champions League football and will instead join Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League. Dieter Hecking, who was managing Die Fohle for the final time, will be disappointed by his side’s collapse in recent months.
After a fantastic 2019, it is Bayer Leverkusen who ended up clinching fourth place thanks to a 5-1 destruction of Hertha Berlin at the Olympiastadion. Kai Havertz put Die Werkself ahead with his 17th goal of the season, a Bundesliga record for a 19 year-old and, after Valentin Lazaro’s fortunate leveller for the home side, Peter Bosz and co were able to take control, with Lucas Alario scoring a hattrick. Bosz has revitalized Leverkusen since his arrival and, should they be able to keep on to stars such as Havertz and Brandt, another Champions League qualification next time around must be the minimum. For Hertha, Pal Dardai was in the dugout for the last time, and was treated to a grandiose fairwell after the game. He will be replaced by Hertha Berlin II boss Ante Covic.
Hoffenheim were also in the battle for the Champions League spots but, as it turned out, they failed to even make the Europa League! This was despite leading Mainz 2-0, who had nothing left to play for, before capitulating as they have so often done this season. Sandro Schwarz’s team scored three in the final nine minutes to win 4-2 and condemn their opponents to ninth place. Throughout the season, Hoffenheim dropped a league-leading 28 points from winning positions and, with manager Julian Nagelsmann and star players Kerem Demirbay and Nico Schulz leaving to to join Leipzig, Leverkusen and Dortmund respectively, worrying times may be ahead.
Wolfsburg’s demolition of Augsburg contributed, amongst other results, to Hoffenheim’s failure to qualify for Europe. During an astonishing performance, Die Wölfe managed to put EIGHT goals past Gregor Kobel, conceding just one in return. Wout Weghorst was the star of the show, scoring his second treble of the campaign as he took his personal tally for the season to 17. It is the most scored by a Wolfsburg player since Edin Dzeko in 2010, and the result was also Bruno Labbadia’s side’s biggest professional win in their history. It was a perfect send off for Labbadia who will also be leaving his post now the season has ended.
Werder Bremen’s fixture against RB Leipzig was only the other game with something on the line. Not for Leipzig, who made 10 changes ahead of their DFB Pokal final against Bayern having already qualified for the Champions League, but Bremen still held on to the slim hope of Europa League football. They got the win they needed, courtesy of Milot Rashica and a late Claudio Pizarro winner, but other results did not go their way, meaning they finished just outside the European places. Still, this season has been a step in the right direction, and Florian Kohlfeldt has brought some much-needed stability to the club.
It has been a long season for Nürnberg, but it is finally over, although they would have been hoping for a better end than the 5-1 loss they endured. In all fairness, Freiburg were not that much better than Der Club, but that has unfortunately been too familiar a story throughout the campaign. The good news for Nürnberg is that their new manager, Damir Camadi, has been confirmed, meaning that they can plan for next year. For Freiburg, Bundesliga survival will once again be on the cards.
Nürnberg will be joined in the second-tier by Hannover, who ended their season with a 2-1 loss to Fortuna Düsseldorf. Thomas Doll, the current man at the helm, will no doubt have his future scrutinized as his side look to return to the big time at the first time of asking. For Fortuna manager Friedhelm Funkel, there will be no such issues. Düsseldorf have exceeded expectations and, had they started the season a bit stronger, a Europa League place would have been attainable.
The weekend’s only goalless game was betweenSchalke against Stuttgart. Which is not too surprising considering these are two of the lowest scoring sides in the division. Die Königsblauen will be happy to see the back of a season during which they massively underwhelmed, but the campaign is not yet over for Stuttgart, who will now play Union Berlin, who finished third in the 2.Bundesliga in a two-legged relegation/promotion play-off. Tim Walter, who was announced as the club’s manager for next season, will be looking one with interested, surely hoping that he will be managing a Bundesliga side and not a second-division once he takes over.