Champions again - strong Bayern, weak pursuers

Back in November, Uli Hoeneß had already firmly promised Bayern fans the championship. The unstable Leverkusen fans were complacent about the seemingly boastful statement: FC Bayern became German champions for the 34th time on matchday 32, thanks to Freiburg's draw against rivals Leverkusen.

For honorary president Hoeneß, this was already clear after the eleventh matchday. "What I can promise is the German championship," said the boss at a forum event hosted by the Swiss newspaper "Finanz und Wirtschaft" in Rüschlikon in the canton of Zurich. His explanation in November 2024: "We're in a wonderful position right now. We're top of the table. And our only real rivals, Bayer Leverkusen and RB Leipzig, are far behind us." After a disastrous start with just five wins from eleven games, reigning champions Leverkusen already had nine points, while RB Leipzig had eight.

Xabi Alonso's team never recovered from this false start, even though there were repeated phases in which they seemed to have achieved a turnaround to the strength and dominance of the previous season. But throughout the entire season, Leverkusen were simply too weak in the decisive moments.

When Bayern turned a 2-0 lead at home against Bochum into a 2-3 defeat on March 8, Bayer could have closed the gap to five points – but they lost the home game against Werder Bremen 2-0. Bayern last picked up just one point against Borussia Dortmund on April 12, and Leverkusen again blew the assist: a 0-0 draw against Union Berlin.

Bayern had held the lead in the table since matchday 3 – and haven't relinquished it since. After just 30 matches, FCB had collected as many points as in the entire previous season (72). Perhaps not many would have expected Vincent Kompany, whose points average in Bayern's history has only been surpassed by Pep Guardiola and Hansi Flick, to achieve this: Overall, he was the better coach in the five head-to-head meetings with Bayer this season. Xabi Alonso may have won the cup tie, but there were two draws in the league and two serious drubbings at the hands of FCB in the Champions League.

Xabi Alonso also contributed to this through poor coaching, as he once again fielded a strikerless team in the first leg of the Champions League, leaving the in-form Patrik Schick and Victor Boniface on the bench. The idea of ​​using reserve goalkeeper Matěj Kovar as the starting number one also proved to be a complete misstep. In the league match on Matchday 22, Xabi Alonso had already tried the strikerless option without success: Leverkusen were vastly superior in the duel with Bayern, with 16 shots on goal to 2 (!) – but no finisher, and missed a potential turning point in the title race in the 0-0 draw.

RB Leipzig—and in this respect, Hoeneß was quite wrong in his prophetic speech in November—was never even remotely a contender. Leipzig, whose attacking triangle of Benjamin Sesko, Lois Openda, and Xavi Simons could actually be among Europe's elite, was a complete failure for large parts of the season, similar to the 2023 champions, Borussia Dortmund.

What the coming season will look like is something we can only fear: a similar boredom looms. Leipzig has no promising coach, Dortmund would have to revamp the core of its squad, and Leverkusen, in addition to Jonathan Tah, is threatened with the departures of Florian Wirtz and Xabi Alonso. It's conceivable that Uli Hoeneß will pull off a similar feat as early as October.

• football
• Bundesliga
• FC Bayern Munich