After Bochum gave themselves a lifeline when it comes to avoiding relegation, Bayern Munich had the chance to confirm themselves as Bundesliga Champions and also do Eintracht Frankfurt a favour.
But it wasn’t so easy, Bayern came back from 2-0 down to led 3-2 before conceding late to avoid officially confirming them as champions, Borussia Mönchengladbach also left it late to draw with Hoffenheim 4-4, Stuttgart also left it late to beat St.Pauli 1-0 while Union Berlin and Werder Bremen drew 2-2.
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Here is what we learnt:
Bayern Munich are (basically) Bundesliga Champions:
If you want the summary of Bayern’s season in 90 minutes. Today was the day.
The champions elect were not at the races in the first half and allowed Leipzig to storm ahead. However, because they were playing Leipzig, they were able to come back, even if it looked like they were winning the game, before Leipzig equalised right at the death.
As I have said many times since basically the March international break, it looks like Bayern are limping to the finish line, and today proved that as well. The title race is over as Leverkusen need to win their three games, hope Bayern lose their two AND need a 30-goal swing. They are not Borussia Mönchengladbach in 1978 chasing 1.FC Köln.
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Bayern’s performance today, again, showed they do not have enough depth in the squad to compete on all fronts, but hey, at least they will go out and spend A LOT of money on Florian Wirtz to basically end up like Real Madrid this season.
Overall, though, this Bundesliga season is very much unmemorable and especially compared to the past two title chases, this will not be well remembered.
Borussia Mönchengladbach show they are too inconsistent for Europe:
Gladbach should have won their game. They held the lead twice but threw it away twice to relegation-fighting Hoffenheim, there was even a point in the game where it looked like they had handed the visitors’ survival.
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For most of this season, die Fohlen had relied upon a strong defence, but in the past three games, they have conceded 10 goals against Borussia Dortmund, Holstein Kiel and now Hoffenheim. Whatever was there at the beginning of the season has clearly disconnected, and they are also once again relying upon individual brilliance to keep them close to the European spots.
However, despite being only three points off Europe, they do not seem like they have the right consistency to even take advantage of any slip-up of teams around them.
On the Seoane question?
Well…
The only positive from this is that Hoffenheim are still not safe, relegation is still a real possibility with games against Wolfsburg and Bayern remaining.
VfB Stuttgart keep their (slim) European hopes alive:
The volatility of the European race means that Stuttgart have a chance, albeit a slim one, to qualify for Europe this season on top of a potential DFB-Pokal final win.
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The Swabians are only four points off of a European spot, and with fixtures against Augsburg and Leipzig, there is a chance that they could sneak into Europe.
However, the win against St.Pauli did not give a lot of hope as they struggled against Alexander Blessin’s defensively sound side, and Nick Woltemade’s saved penalty summed up this season at the club. Woltemade then redeemed himself with a late winner.
It is a weird one when it comes to assessing Stuttgart’s season. A Pokal win, a first major trophy in 18 years, would automatically make the season a success. Nonetheless, they should of at least made the playoffs in the Champions League and have heavily underperformed in the league with a very talented squad.
Granted, it was going to be VERY difficult to top last season, but if this were school, they would get a MUST DO BETTER, or a 3 (if you are German).
GGFN | Jack Meenan
