Bayern Munich is champion, Kahn still has to go

2023-05-27 15:51:00

Bayern won 2-1 at 1. FC Köln on Saturday thanks to a late goal by Jamal Musiala and benefited from a blunder by Borussia Dortmund. BVB only drew 2-2 at home against Mainz and therefore have to wait for their ninth championship, the first since 2012, due to the worse goal difference.

For Bayern it was the 33rd title, the eleventh in a row. Union Berlin won the Champions League ticket with a 1-0 win over Werder Bremen, while Hertha (2-1 in Wolfsburg) and Schalke were relegated after a 2-4 draw at RB Leipzig. Stuttgart has to go into relegation, the 1-1 draw against Hoffenheim was not enough. Bochum was saved by beating Leverkusen 3-0. Gladbach defeated Augsburg 2-0.

The Dortmunders produced a classic self-fall in front of their home crowd. After the last eleven home wins in a row, the prospect of the championship title was obviously paralyzing. Mainz, on the other hand, played freely despite four defeats en suite. Andreas Hanche-Olsen headed the 1-0 for the guests after a corner (15′), Onisiwo also headed in (24′). Shortly before that, Sebastien Haller failed with a penalty against Mainz goalie Gregor Kobel (19th).

In the second half, too, Dortmund didn’t find a recipe against Mainz for a long time and were very lucky in the 57th minute when Onisiwo only hit the post. Raphael Guerreiro gave Dortmund hope again (69′), but Niklas Süle’s 2-2 came too late (96′).

This was the first time in 22 years that there was a lead change in the last round of the German Bundesliga. Back then, Bayern became champions because Leverkusen lost in Unterhaching. This time the Munich team gratefully accepted Mainz’s support and won 2-1 in Cologne. Kingsley Coman gave the visitors the lead in the eighth minute with a remarkable flick, but then, as so often this season, the record champion delivered a disappointing performance and was punished for it in the 81st minute.

Serge Gnabry caused a hand penalty, ÖFB team player Dejan Ljubicic grabbed the ball, converted from the point – and made Dortmund the virtual champion for a few minutes. But then Bayern threw everything forward again, and shortly before the end of regular time Musiala scored the decisive goal for the championship title with a low shot into the far post.

It was similarly dramatic in the fight against relegation. Schalke sold well in Leipzig and caught up a 0:2 deficit – Konrad Laimer had put things ahead in the tenth minute – but in the end it was 2:4 and thus the transition to the 2nd division. Stuttgart dropped back to the relegation zone after beating Hoffenheim 1-1, because Bochum also won 3-0 against Leverkusen thanks to a goal by Kevin Stöger (86th).

Thanks to Rani Khedira’s goal against Werder Bremen (81st), Union Berlin was able to celebrate fourth place and thus their first-ever participation in the Champions League. In his last home game with Eintracht Frankfurt, Oliver Glasner, after trailing 1-0, managed to win 2-1 against SC Freiburg, who are fifth in the Europa League.

Kahn and Salihamidzic have to go

Despite winning the championship title again, Bayern Munich is taking personal action after an extremely turbulent and sportingly unsatisfactory season. CEO Oliver Kahn (53) and sports director Hasan Salihamidzic (46) are released from their duties at the German record champions. This was reported on Saturday after Munich’s 2-1 draw in Cologne by “Kicker” and “Bild”.

Originally, future decisions were only expected at the Supervisory Board meeting, which was postponed to next Tuesday. However, there is said to have been an extraordinary meeting of the committee around Honorary President Uli Hoeneß beforehand. Jan-Christian Dreesen (55) is to succeed Kahn. The chief financial officer should actually leave the club shortly. Kahn was already absent from the Cologne stadium on Saturday, club circles cited flu as the reason.

FC Bayern has now confirmed the separation of Kahn and Salihamdzic.