Eight in a row for Bayern
Bayern Munich’s defeat of Werder Bremen sealed its eighth successive league title and the 30th in its history. As it has been in the club’s recent history, it was a Robert Lewandowski goal that sealed the win and the title — his 33goal tally now a league record for a foreigner in the Bundesliga.
Despite running into troubled waters midseason — the ‘dip’ in form and the sacking of manager Niko Kovac in November — former player Hansi Flick guided the Bavarian side to a recordbreaking season, with a good chance of completing the treble.
In a virtual second place playo, Borussia Dortmund eased past RB Leipzig to nish another season as the league runnerup. Erling Haaland’s brace did the trick in what was Chelseabound Timo Werner’s nal home game.
Bayer Leverkusen needed a win against Hertha Berlin to stay in control of the nal Champions League spot but failed to do so.
The defeats leaves Leverkusen in fth, two points behind Borussia Monchengladbach and three behind Leipzig.
Leipzig remains ahead of a Gladbach side that leapfrogged Leverkusen into fourth place with a 31 win at alreadyrelegated Paderborn.
Schalke’s 41 defeat at home to Wolfsburg means David Wagner’s side is now 11th in the table and has gone 15 league games without a victory. This is the same team that was third in December. Wagner will be relieved that the season ends after one more match, after which he and the board will have a lot of time to analyse the slump.
The title celebrations are on hold in England after Liverpool could only manage a goalless draw against Everton. Despite faltering in the quietest of the 236 Merseyside derbies, the Reds remain oncourse to win their rst league title in 30 years thanks to a 23point gap to Manchester City.
Pep Guardiola’s team might be giving up its twoyear hold on the title, but it remains one of the best teams in Europe, outplaying an Arsenal side that was anything but ecient.
Mikel Arteta’s team was on a good run before the break, but that was snapped in its heals at the Etihad Stadium. For all of City’s attacking talent, it was defensive errors and injuries at the back that saw the game slip away from the Gunners.
The injuries and David Luiz’s red card
forced Arteta to go with a makeshift backline that crumbled against Brighton and Hove Albion a few days later, with Neal Maupay scoring in the nal minute of the game. A midtable nish seems more likely now than ever for Arsenal.
While City and Arsenal played one of the most entertaining games since the restart, the clash between Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United was far from one. Jose Mourinho’s defensive setup saw the Red Devils spend most of the game trying to break the multiple lines of defence.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer won’t be too upset with the 11 draw as the game saw the return of Paul Pogba, who won a penalty, and new acquisition Bruno Fernandes scoring from the spot to continue his ne start with the club.
With Leicester being held by Watford, fourthplaced Chelsea had the chance to close the gap to the Foxes against Aston Villa and took it. With most of his players back from various injuries, Frank Lampard put out a team that dominated Villa all over the park but failed to score — a familiar theme over the season. Despite Villa scoring just before halftime, Chelsea regrouped and turned the game on its head in 120 seconds after the break. Substitute Christian Pulisic got the equaliser and Olivier Giroud scored his third goal in four games to seal three points. In a week where the club announced the signing of Werner, the Frenchman showed that he is up for a challenge.
Wolverhampton Wanderers’ 20 win at West Ham United helped it move above Sheeld United to sixth, level on points with Manchester United. Tenman Sheeld could do not stop Newcastle United from taking all three points in their clash, a win that also helped the Magpies move further away from the relegation zone.
Serie A also made its comeback following a coronavirusenforced break — but not without troubles.
Torino hosted Parma in the rst game, but the match had to be kicked o twice in the space of ve minutes because of a deated ball. Social media was abuzz with people discussing superstitions and omens, most with a funny, sarcastic tone to them.
Inter Milan’s title ght has been fuelled by Romelu Lukaku’s goals and the Belgian continued where he left o. Sampdoria struggled to contain him as he scored his 1■th of the season — more than Ronaldo did in his debut campaign at Inter.
The Nerazzurri remain six points behind leader Juventus and will be hoping for a slipup from the Old Lady to get back into the title race.
Atalanta also restarted its campaign in style, defeating Sassuolo 41 and keeping its hold on fourth spot. For a city that was at one point the coronavirus epicentre of the country, the restart and the win brought muchneeded joy to fans.
“This is not just any restart, for a region that has suered three months of living in warfare. Nobody can forget the sounds of the ambulances streaking down the street,” said club director Umberto Marino before the match.
The win showed that the team belongs among Europe’s best clubs and will also inject some momentum going into the current Champions League campaign.
Real Madrid knocked Barcelona o the top of the table with a 21 win over Real Sociedad. Karim Benzema continued his excellent form while Sergio Ramos became the topgoalscoring defender in the league’s history as the Los Blancos made the most of Barcelona’s draw at Sevilla.
However, Ramos limped o with what looked like a knee injury and head coach Zinedine Zidane will be hoping it is nothing more than a niggle.
Real Sociedad was in contention for a topfour spot before the break but has dropped o since, owing to a draw and two defeats. It stays sixth, ve points adrift of fourthplaced Sevilla.
Barcelona’s failure to nd the back of the net against Sevilla saw it relinquish the top spot, on headtohead, while also giving its opponent a fourpoint cushion in fourth.
A stuttering Real Sociedad is now level with Villarreal, and the two are just a point ahead of a Valencia side that’s on the rise. Valencia won 20 against Osasuna, the highlight of the game being Goncalo Guedes’ sensational solo goal. The Portuguese winger picked up the ball in his half, stayed on his feet despite two heavy challenges, and wriggled past four players to break the deadlock.
It is only six points behind the nal Champions League qualication spot with eight games left.
VELAMURI