Tom HamiltonSenior Author27. May 2023 11:33 am ET2 minutes read
Bayern Munich have won the Bundesliga title for the eleventh straight season after a dramatic final day that saw Dortmund collapse under pressure and draw at home to Mainz.
Dortmund went into Saturday’s deciding final two points clear of Bayern, but Edin Terzic’s side were 2nd after a disastrous first half in which Mainz took a two-goal lead and striker Sebastian Haller missed a penalty :2 tie stunned.
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Meanwhile, Bayern traveled to Cologne and took the lead within 10 minutes thanks to an early goal from winger Kingsley Coman.
A late penalty by Cologne midfielder Dejan Ljubicic seemed to cause further drama – the title went to Dortmund, so to speak. But Bayern striker Jamal Musiala scored a memorable 2-1 win in the 89th minute.
Dortmund equalized in added time through Niklas Sule but had just seconds to score the winner and the final whistle secured Bayern their 33rd German league title.
It was a turbulent season for the German club as they changed managers mid-season, but the arrival of Thomas Tuchel in March managed to propel Bayern to another league triumph and continue their decades-long dominance.
In the second half of the season it looked more and more as if the club’s dominance would end.
Bayern parted ways with coach Julian Nagelsmann on March 24 and replaced him with Tuchel. At this point in the season, Bayern were in a title fight with Dortmund and RB Leipzig, as well as in the Champions League. However, they were eliminated from European competition in the quarter-finals against Manchester City, allowing Tuchel to focus solely on the league and the team being eliminated from the DFB-Pokal in the quarter-finals against Freiburg.
Off the pitch, Bayern have also endured a series of mishaps this season, including a broken leg while skiing in December after the World Cup, suffered by longtime goalkeeper Manuel Neuer while skiing, and the aftermath of the departure of goalkeeping coach Toni Tapalovic in January . In April, new star signing Sadio Mane was resigned for one game after an altercation with team-mate Leroy Sane following the first-leg loss to City on April 11.
Bayern also sometimes had problems on the pitch. In the penultimate game of the season, Tuchel’s side suffered a serious blow to their title hopes with an impressive 3-1 home loss to RB Leipzig, leaving Dortmund with a two-point lead going into the final matchday.
However, with Dortmund under pressure on Saturday, Bayern managed to secure the championship and assert their dominance of German football in the closing minutes of the season.