Thursday November 28, 2024

Bayern roll over Frankfurt to clinch Bundesliga title

Published : 19 May 2019, 02:38

Updated : 19 May 2019, 11:00

  DF-Xinhua Report
Bayern Munich's Franck Ribery (R), Rafinha (C) and Arjen Robben celebrate during the awarding ceremony after a German Bundesliga match between FC Bayern Munich and Eintracht Frankfurt in Munich, Germany, on May 18, 2019. Photo Xinhua by Philippe Ruiz.

Veterans Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben scored farewell goals to secure Bayern Munich's 29th Bundesliga title following the last round on Saturday.

The "Bavarians" defended their two-point advantage against rivals and runner up Borussia Dortmund in the standings as goals from Kingsley Coman, David Alaba, Renato Sanches, Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben were enough to reap the 24th victory in the 34th game.

Bayern had in their own hands as a victory would seal the title and they caught a fairy tale start on home soil as Kingsley Coman broke the deadlock with just for minutes after slotting home into the top right corner from inside the box.

Eintracht were unable to gain a foothold into the game as Bayern dominated the proceedings on the pitch. However, despite their dominance they failed to extend the lead as they lacked either in accuracy or Frankfurt goalkeeper Kevin Trapp was on guard with a save.

Bayern's wastefulness got punished after the restart as Frankfurt shocked the hosts in the 51st minute when Sebastien Haller restored parity from close range following a corner.

It was a wakening call for the German record champions as Niko Kovac's men responded with furious attacks. Hence, it took Bayern only two minutes to make it 2-1 on the scoreboards as David Alaba capitalized on a rebound to tap home.

The hosts gained momentum and extended the lead to 3-1 when Renato Sanches had all time and space on the right wing to slot home his first ever Bundesliga goal from tight angle in the 58th minute.

With the two-goal advantage, Kovac fielded Ribery and Robben for their last game in Bayern's dress and both players ensured a perfect farewell game for themselves as Ribery lobbed the ball over Trapp in the 72nd minute before Robben poked home to put the result beyond doubt six minutes later.

"We have been working towards this day for a long time. We started very well into the season but then we lost touch. My team fought back and showed a great character. I have to raise my hat to my players," Bayern's head coach Niko Kovac said.

Elsewhere, Borussia Dortmund's 2-0 win over Borussia Monchengladbach was meaningless as the "BVB" remain on the second place of the standings even though they had a nine-point advantage at one point in the season.

Third placed Leipzig conclude the season with a 2-1 defeat to Werder Bremen, who snatched a late win by courtesy on Claudio Pizarro's late goal.

Bayer Leverkusen jumped on the 4th place to secure a UEFA Champions League spot in the last game of the season after beating Hertha Berlin 5-1 on the road.

Wolfsburg finish the season on the 6th place after crushing Augsburg 8-1 win in front of home crowd to book a berth in UEFA Europa League.

Hoffenheim squandered a place in Europe as Mainz rallied back from two goals down to wrap up a 4-2 comeback victory.

Schalke and Stuttgart played out a goalless draw. The 16th placed Stuttgart will have to fear for their top-flight status as they will have to play another two play-off games.

Freiburg whitewashed relegated Nuremberg 5-1 and newly promoted Fortuna Dusseldorf edge relegated Hannover 2-1.

The Bundesliga season 2019-2020 kicks off on August 16.