Bayern Munich had to work to win the Bundesliga at last but as two great heroes depart, questions remain over the managerFor two minutes and 40 seconds, it was on. The last-day drama in the Bundesliga title race that all neutrals – OK, all non-Bayern Munich fans – and Borussia Dortmund supporters had hoped for had legs for a brief spell at the beginning of the second half, after Sébastian Haller prodded in an equaliser for Eintracht Frankfurt at the Allianz Arena. It was the season in microcosm. It didn’t last.Before the window was up, Kevin Trapp could do no more than parry Thomas Müller’s hit from the edge of the area and David Alaba raced in to snaffle the...
Champions stalked their rivals with intent and entitlement before pinning them into submission as they have done so oftenIt was an evening when we anticipated finding out how much things had changed. In the end it was an evening when it appeared nothing had changed at all. Borussia Dortmund, after succumbing to heavy defeats on their last three Bundesliga visits to the Allianz Arena (6-0, 4-1 and 5-1), were brushed aside by Bayern Munich in double-quick time, in the manner of a tiger swatting its paw at a fly.More than 200 countries watched on television and tickets changed hands for upwards of €400 on the walk up the gentle incline to the stadium but we ended up watching a pair...
Borussia Dortmund scored two goals in stoppage time as Robert Lewandowksi spurned late chances for Bayern Munich to set up an enticing title run-inAll roads lead to Munich. At the end of a week in which it was announced France’s World Cup-winning defender Lucas Hernández would arrive at Bayern in the summer – after the champions paid a fee almost double the Bundesliga’s existing highest for an incoming player – Marco Reus will also head for Bavaria, as a Borussia Dortmund player, of course, but there had been doubt about the captain making the journey. This weekend Reus’s first child, a baby girl, arrived a few days earlier than expected, freeing daddy up to lead his side in what could...
Jürgen Klopp’s side rise to the occasion with their Dutch factotum directing an almost dismissive victory over BayernOn German television they closed out the show with Hello Goodbye by the Beatles, which felt about right. Through mid-afternoon the grey stone squares of Munich’s old town had echoed with choruses of “Allez, Allez, Allez”, Liverpool’s own European anthem of the past two years.It is a sound that may just come to haunt this ageing Bayern era, which reached its own decisive goodbye on a chilly, luminous night at the Allianz Arena. Quietly, and always with a feeling of strength in reserve, Liverpool produced a performance shot through with the steel of the mature Klopp period. Related: Sadio Mané and Virgil van...
The Liverpool captain is often maligned but he outshone more expensive dishes such as Thiago and James in his side’s hard-fought 0-0 draw with Bayern MunichThey came to Anfield expecting fire and light and red-shirted vengeance. They came scenting one of those hair-raising nights when the air seems to throb with wild, skirling possibilities. They may, on reflection, have slightly misread the situation.In the buildup to this Champions League first leg against Bayern Munich Jürgen Klopp had promised “passion football”, presumably a sub-genre of the usual heavy metal style: speed-metal football, Lancashire pomp-rock. Related: Liverpool and Bayern Munich trade blows but draw leaves tie poised Related: Liverpool need more courage to beat Bayern Munich, says Jürgen Klopp Related: Liverpool 0-0...