By drawing at home against Mainz on the final day, Dortmund shockingly lost the league, despite everyone expecting them to win it.
That gave Bayern Munich the opportunity to win the Bundesliga for an 11th consecutive year. Dortmund had a two-point advantage over Bayern coming into the pivotal game on Saturday, but Edin Terzic’s club was surprised in a 2-2 draw after a terrible first half in which attacker Sebastian Haller missed a penalty and Mainz went up two goals.
After just 10 minutes of play, Bayern in Cologne took the lead thanks to a goal from Kingsley Coman. When Dejan Ljubicic of Cologne attempted to inject further late drama with his penalty, Dortmund had already won the championship.
A stunning 2-1 victory was secured by a goal from Bayern attacker Jamal Musiala in the 89th minute. Dortmund had a chance to draw the game thanks to an injury-time goal by Niklas Sule, but with only a few seconds remaining, Bayern had claimed its 33rd German Bundesliga title.
The German club has struggled this season as they have changed managers several times, but Thomas Tuchel’s appointment in March allowed Bayern to maintain their ten-year dominance by leading them to yet another league victory.
It became more likely throughout the second half of the season that the club’s era of dominance would come to an end. It became more likely throughout the second half of the season that the club’s era of dominance would come to an end.
On March 24, Bayern fired manager Julian Nagelsmann and hired Tuchel in his place. Bayern was involved in both the Champions League and a title fight with Dortmund and RB Leipzig at that point in the season.
But after losing to Manchester City in the quarterfinals of the European competition, Tuchel was left to concentrate solely on the league as Freiburg eliminated them from the DFB-Pokal.
Bayern has also experienced a string of off-field incidents this season, including the fracture of veteran goalkeeper Manuel Neuer’s leg while skiing in December following the World Cup and the fallout from Toni Tapalovic’s departure as goalkeeping coach in January.
A shocking 3-1 home loss to RB Leipzig in the season’s penultimate match delivered Tuchel’s team a serious setback to their title chances, giving Dortmund a two-point lead going into the final day.
Bayern was able to secure the championship in the closing few minutes of the season and maintain their dominance of German football, though, as Dortmund buckled under the pressure on Saturday.
