Showing posts with label domestic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label domestic. Show all posts

Bayern Munich secured their 21st German league title and completed a domestic double for the third time in four seasons when they drew 0-0 away to VfL Wolfsburg on Sunday.

Bayern's draw stretched their lead over closest rivals Werder Bremen to 10 points with just three games left and set off the traditionally soggy celebrations, as the players soaked each other, and anyone else on the field, with beer.

'It's a special achievement,' outgoing coach Ottmar Hitzfeld told reporters between soakings. 'There was a lot of expectation and the pressure was enormous but now we've done it.'

The Bavarian club's 20th title since the Bundesliga era began in 1963 follows their German Cup final victory over Borussia Dortmund in Berlin last month. Their only other German Championship success came back in 1932.

Bayern played poorly on Sunday against Wolfsburg, who missed the chance to keep them waiting for the title when Grafite burst through on goal in the final minute only to shoot wide.

With 31 games played, Bayern lead with 67 points, followed by Werder on 57 after their 2-0 win over Energie Cottbus on Saturday. Schalke 04 are two points further back in the third and final Champions League place after a 1-1 draw at home to Hanover 96.

'All in all it's been a fantastic season,' club president Karl-Heinz Rummenigge told Premiere TV before being drenched in traditional Bavarian Weissbier by midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger. 'We played great football and took a big step forward this season.'

'And Bastian is going up for sale,' he joked in an aside.

Bayern were humiliated 4-0 in their UEFA Cup semi-final second leg against Zenit St Petersburg on Thursday, dashing their hopes of a treble in Hitzfeld's final season before he makes way for incoming coach Juergen Klinsmann.

That heavy defeat should not take too much away from what was a near perfect domestic season for a team inspired by the artistry of midfielder Franck Ribery and the brutal efficiency of Luca Toni up front.

Bayern, who finished outside the Champions League places last season, started the campaign with a 3-0 win at home to Hansa Rostock and they have not relinquished the lead in the table all season.

They have lost just twice in the league so far, and boasts the top scorer in Italian striker Toni, who has bagged 21 goals in 29 Bundesliga matches in his debut season in Germany.

Ribery, the French playmaker signed from Olympique Marseille for 30 million euros, has been a delight to watch, while Oliver Kahn has proved in his final season at the club, and at the age of 38, that he remains one of the world's best keepers.

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A Luca Toni double lifted Bayern Munich to a 2-1 German Cup final success after extra-time over Borussia Dortmund in front of 73,000 fans at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin on Saturday.

Toni, revisiting the venue where in 2006 he captured the World Cup with Italy, struck in the 11th minute after being fed the ball by Frank Ribery, the France international who had opposed his teammate in the World Cup final.

That goal appeared to have decided the affair only for Dortmund's Mladen Petric to snatch an injury time equaliser, to force extra time.

But Toni, who like Ribery joined Bayern last summer, had the last word when he grabbed the winner in the 103rd minute.

This was a final Cup appearance for Bayern talisman Oliver Kahn with the goalkeeper retiring at the end of the season. For him it was a sixth Cup success. This final meanwhile had a special edge to it for Bayern coach Ottmar Hitzfeld as he had a seven year spell as manager of Dortmund.

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