In the last 10 seasons, Bayern Munich has won 10 German titles, completely taken over the Bundesliga, made it irrelevant, which greatly diminished interest from it. This season after quite a few scandals, which are likely to lead and are already leading to quite a few changes this summer at the Allianz Arena, Borussia Dortmund came into the final round in Germany knowing that a home victory over Mainz would secure their first title in 11 years.
As a club known for kicking the bucket more than once, the pressure was obviously sky-high. The signal Iduna Park was blown away, the fans were in peak tension after frustrating years, the players had weights on their feet and in a very predictable way, but on the other hand also unpredictable, Dortmund only finished a painful 2-2 after falling behind 2-0 in the 24th minute, and the championship went to Bavaria for the 11th consecutive time. Quite a few moving fairy tales crashed at the final whistle in Dortmund.
If that's the story, the return of Sebastian Haller, who contracted testicular cancer before the season began after arriving from Ajax and returning to the final stretch to try and help his teammates end the drought. If it's Marco Reuss hoping to take a first championship in history, after years of receiving offers to leave the yellow-black uniform and refusing to abandon his youth team. If that's the story of Eden Terzic, the 40-year-old coach who grew up at the club started his youth coaching career when Jurgen Klopp was still coaching the first team and hoping to make history.
Instead we received tears of great pain. One fan did not leave the stadium at the final whistle. Part of German sports culture but probably because of physical paralysis that happens only in such difficult moments of sadness. They encouraged the players who approached them, but that was no consolation and probably won't comfort Dortmund's players for much longer.
Dortmund players crushed, tonight,
Humiliation, impeachment and satire
And what can be said about the winner? It couldn't be put more subtly – Bayern didn't deserve to win the title this season. Dortmund gave it to her. Bayern wasn't good enough. She drew nine times, lost five times, and some of her victories were those that came without the familiar class. True, she scored 92 goals, but for many months it seemed that this was not it. Bayern won their 33rd title in the most non-Bayern way possible. And not only because of what happened on the pitch, but also and mainly because of the problems that existed behind the scenes.
What problems? It started with the long saga surrounding Robert Lewandowski in the summer who wanted to leave for Barcelona and was met with humiliating treatment after years of contributing to the club, it continued with an early elimination from the cup, accusations of Julian Nagelsmann having a mole in the dressing room leaking his tactical instructions. This continued with Manchester City's Champions League quarter-final elimination of Sadio Mane in the face of his friend Leroy Sané after he allegedly called him "black shit".
Bayern celebrate an 11th consecutive title, Photo by Getty Images
From there it continued with management's decision to fire Nagelsmann at the end of March, which was harshly received by the audience and some of the players. The club's captains panicked after a loss to Leverkusen and Dortmund's rise to first place for the first time in three-and-a-half years, and made a shock too sharp. Joshua Kimmich and Leon Goretzka, two of Bayern's leading players, expressed their opinion on the decision and did not add silence.
And those who have been in the midst of the storm throughout the season and have not contributed to the quiet, perhaps the most, are professional director Hasan Salihamidzic and CEO Oliver Kahn, who yesterday moments after winning the championship, it was reported that they had been fired even before Bayern's game in Cologne. Jan-Christian Dürsen will succeed Kan and, along with president Herbert Hainer, board member Olli Hans, former CEO Karl-Heinz Rominiga and Tuchel, will be responsible for building the squad for next season.
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Salihamidzic, who caused Hansi Flick's departure after the treble in 2020, and Kan, who failed to step into Rominga's big shoes, paid the price for putting Bayern in the headlines rather than positive things and for causing chaos at one of the clubs that championed proper, calm and disproportionate management. Bayern has been blown out of proportion this year, and it is symbolic that its last game this season is also a big departure from the familiar framework. Now the goal will be to return to the framework.
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