Draw spoils Bayern’s title party
BERLIN: Austria striker Sasa Kalajdzic dampened spirits at Bayern Munich’s Bundesliga title party on Sunday as Stuttgart held the champions to a 2-2 draw to keep their own survival hopes alive.
Julian Nagelsmann’s side were presented with the Bundesliga trophy in front of their own fans, but Kalajdzic’s second-half equaliser means they have failed to win in the two games since claiming a 10th successive title last month.
Bayern’s players had already faced criticism for their decision to take a twoday team holiday to Ibiza ahead of last week’s defeat to Mainz, and they delivered another under-par performance against the relegation candidates.
“They deserve to be champions and they won’t care too much about the draw today, but it could be an extremely important result for us,” Kalajdzic told DAZN.
Four points adrift of safety at kick-off, the visitors needed a result and burst out of the blocks in the first half.
Omar Marmoush missed an early chance to take the lead on the counterattack before Tiago Tomas smashed in a brilliant shot to stun the home fans.
Thomas Mueller hit the bar for Bayern at the other end, and was later denied by a flying save from Florian Mueller.
Serge Gnabry finally broke through Stuttgart’s defence on 35 minutes, lashing in a shot from a tight angle via defender Konstantinos Mavropanos.
Mueller put Bayern ahead just before half time, prodding the ball home after an elegant pirouette in the box.
Yet the visitors fought back after the break when Borna Sosa picked out Kalajdzic with a looping cross to level the scores at 2-2.
Both sides had chances to win the game late on, and Bayern’s disappointing evening was crowned when Kingsley Coman was sent off in stoppage time.
“I think a draw was a fair result. We played with a lot of courage today, and we got a bit of luck too,” said Kalajdzic.
Stuttgart remain three points adrift of safety in the relegation play-off place, but could still overtake Hertha Berlin on the last day of the season due to superior goal difference.