Bayern Munich wrapped up their eighth straight Bundesliga title on Tuesday with a 1-0 win over Werder Bremen.
The win puts them mathematically beyond the reach of nearest challengers Borussia Dortmund, ten points ahead with just nine points left for Lucien Favre’s side to play for.
It was, fittingly, Robert Lewandowski who got the party started at the end of the first half – controlling a sumptuous lofted ball by Jerome Boateng on his chest before firing first time past a stranded Jiri Pavlenka.
The goal was Lewandowski’s 31st of the league season (he’s played just four Bundesliga games this season in which he’s failed to score or assist) and his 45th in all competitions – a staggering total to equal Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s 21st century record with two games to spare, and giving him a puncher’s chance of ending the season behind only the single-season totals of Gerd Muller.
Early indications had suggested that Die Roten could struggle to add to last season’s Magnificent Seventh, with not even the early-November sacking of Niko Kovac stopping the rot. Indeed, the reigning champions were sat in seventh place in mid-December, seven points off the pace having won just half of their opening 14 games.
In the 18 games since, they have dropped points just once.
Hansi Flick, in his first head coaching job in over a decade, has transformed a side in transition after the loss of Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery back into one of the most dominant sides in Europe, and put them right back among the favourites for this season’s Champions League.
Just two matches remain of their league season before the DFB-Pokal final against Bayer Leverkusen at the start of July, leaving the German champions significantly longer than their European rivals between the end of their domestic competition and the start of the Champions League mini-tournament. If their form since the restart has been any indication, that shouldn’t be an issue.