Bundesliga
FC Bayern champions after drama final, Schalke relegated
A picture with symbolic character: Sébastien Haller and BVB are on the ground after the playful championship. photo
© Christian Charisius/dpa
what a drama The championship decision in the Bundesliga could not have been much more exciting. Tears flow on Saturday from the fans of a traditional club.
FC Bayern Munich snatched the German soccer championship from Borussia Dortmund in a dramatic Bundesliga final. The Munich team won 2-1 (1-0) at 1. FC Köln and benefited from BVB’s 2-2 (0-2) defeat of FSV Mainz 05. Bayern are celebrating their eleventh championship in a row.
FC Schalke 04 is the second relegated team next to Hertha BSC after the 2: 4 (1: 2) at cup finalists RB Leipzig. VfB Stuttgart has to go into relegation after a 1-1 (0-0) win against TSG 1899 Hoffenheim.
In the Champions League of the coming season, Bayern, Dortmund and Leipzig will be joined by 1. FC Union Berlin, who won 1-0 (1-0) against Werder Bremen and kept SC Freiburg at bay, who played 1 :2 (1:0) lost. The Breisgauer are qualified for the Europa League, Eintracht can still hope for the playoffs of the Conference League as seventh in the table.
Bochum saves itself
Bayer Leverkusen remained sixth despite the 0: 3 (0: 2) at the saved VfL Bochum. VfL Wolfsburg missed out on the European Cup after beating Hertha 1-2 (1-0). FC Augsburg also kept their class on Saturday despite a 0-2 (0-2) loss at Borussia Mönchengladbach.
Bayern took the lead through Kingsley Coman (8th) and put BVB under pressure early on. A little later Dortmund conceded the 0:1 through Andreas Hanche-Olsen (15th) – suddenly the starting position of the championship contenders had turned completely. A penalty after Dominik Kohr fouled Raphaël Guerreiro could have put Dortmund back in the game, but Sébastien Haller was denied by goalkeeper Finn Dahmen (19′).
Karim Onisiwo (24th) made it even more difficult for BVB with his goal. Bayern managed their game at this stage. Leroy Sané supposedly gave the team a two-goal lead shortly before the half-time break, but the goal didn’t count because the international had previously played with a handball (45′).
BVB catch-up comes too late
In the second half, Raphaël Guerreiro (69th) gave the Dortmund fans hope again with the connecting goal. In Cologne, Dejan Ljubicic (81st) converted a hand penalty caused by Serge Gnabry – now Dortmund was ahead again. But Jamal Musiala (89th) put Bayern back in the lead and made Munich champions. Niklas Süle’s BVB goal (90+6) didn’t change that.
Schalke conceded the 0:1 through Konrad Laimer in the tenth minute. Christopher Nkunku (19′) followed up for Leipzig before Marcin Kamiński (28′) scored the goal. An own goal by Willi Orban (49th) finally brought Schalke back into the game – but only until Yussuf Poulsen (82nd) scored for RB. Again Nkunku (90+4) finally decided the game. Stuttgart fell behind after Ihlas Bebou (75th) conceded a goal, Tiago Tomás (80th) only equalized.
Freiburg celebrated after Vincenzo Grifo’s goal (45′) to make it 1-0 in Frankfurt, but Eintracht came back through Randal Kolo Muani (83′) and Éric Dina Ebimbe (90’+2). Union was able to follow suit in the parallel game for the premier class through Rani Khedira (81st).
Adli sees red
Leverkusen had to do without Amine Adli early on, who saw the red card after an assault in the eighth minute. Philipp Förster (19th) took the lead for Bochum, Takuma Asano (34th) and Kevin Stöger (86th) followed suit.
In Wolfsburg, Jakub Kamiński (2nd) scored early for VfL. Ibrahim Maza (55th) scored his first Bundesliga goal to equalize for the Berliners before Marco Richter (68th) even gave the relegated team the lead.
Luca Netz (4th) gave Mönchengladbach the lead, and Jonas Hofmann (40th) also scored for Borussia. Augsburg’s Robert Gumny saw the red card shortly before the break due to an emergency brake (45 + 2).