By John Bagratuni, dpa
Berlin (dpa) – Bayern Munich’s 8-0 thrashing of Schalke in the opening match of the Bundesliga season in September set the tone as Bayern went on to lift a ninth straight trophy Saturday while Schalke were relegated in last place.
The scoreline was stunning but Bayern had just completed the treble with the Champions League trophy three weeks earlier while Schalke had also failed to win in their previous 16 top flight games.
Robert Lewandowski was among the scorers and kept up the pace to set a new league scoring record with 41 goals as he finally erased the 40 goals former Bayern great Gerd Mueller scored 49 years ago.
“The team also stands for this record. This is something very special, a historic moment in my career,” the Poland striker said.
Munich ran away with another title even though they were not always as convincing as in the past, with a second matchday 4-1 humbling at Hoffenheim ending an unbeaten run of 10 months in all competitions.
When Bayern lifted the trophy on Saturday Munich played a home game in front of fans – a small group of 250 – for the first time since last spring as the coronavirus continued to affect the action in a major way, with only a few games with attendance in September and October, and on Saturday.
But despite various positive tests for the Sars-CoV-2 virus teams were disciplined and only three late season games of Hertha Berlin needed to be rearranged after the squad was ordered into quarantine after several cases within their ranks.
Hertha coach Pal Dardai was among several new helmsmen during the season, with Schalke going through five of them in their dismal campaign to be relegated along with Werder Bremen whose Thomas Schaaf failed with a one-game rescue mission.
Coaches were even more in the focus over moves for the next season announced during the current campaign.
Borussia Moenchengladbach imploded once Marco Rose confirmed in February he would move on to Borussia Dortmund in summer and will not play in Europe, and Eintracht Frankfurt lost their Champions League spot once Adi Huetter said in April he would be the next Gladbach helmsman.
Bayern did not suffer that much when they granted Hansi Flick’s request to quit after 18 months and seven titles, likely become new Germany coach; and RB Leipzig also maintained second place after swift confirmation that they would lose Julian Nagelsmann to Bayern.
“I will miss the team,” Flick said. “It was an honour for me to have accompanied this club over this time. I am very happy and proud of what we have achieved. It is an absolute benchmark for the future.”
Neither Leipzig in the post Timo-Werner era nor Borussia Dortmund managed to seriously threaten Bayern who finished 13 points ahead.
Dortmund’s ups and downs with a youthful team boasting the likes of Erling Haaland and Jadon Sancho led to the dismissal of Lucien Favre but assistant Edin Terzic got back on track for a Champions League berth in third and the domestic Cup title.
Players also bid farewell, with Bayern losing their defensive trio of two-time treble winners David Alaba, Jerome Boateng and Javi Martinez, and 2014 World Cup winner Sami Khedira of Hertha Berlin ending his career along with Bayer Leverkusen’s Bender twins Sven and Lars.
Alaba and Thomas Mueller won a record 10th Bundesliga title each while Schalke went another 13 games without victory after the opening debacle en route to their fourth relegation in club history, with a league-worst 16 points since the three-point rule was introduced.
They are joined by Bremen in a second tier that with the likes of SV and St Pauli Hamburg, Fortuna Dusseldorf, Nuremberg, Karlsruhe, Hanover, and possibly Cologne, will be more competitive than ever.
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