Guardiola’s Bayern clinch record fourth straight Bundesliga title

Por AIPS América

7 de mayo de 2016

By John Bagratuni, dpa

Berlin (dpa) – Bayern Munich clinched a record fourth straight Bundesliga title with one game to spare on Saturday, with Robert Lewandowski scoring both goals in a 2-1 victory at Ingolstadt.

Lewandowski raised his league-leading tally to 29 with his first-half brace as Bayern shook off the disappointment of another Champions League semi-final exit in mid-week, against Atletico Madrid.

Bayern are the first team to win four league titles in a row and now have 26 overall, 25 of them in the Bundesliga era which started in 1963-64.

The streak started in treble-winning 2012-13 under Jupp Heynckes, with Pep Guardiola guiding them to the other three during his reign which ends after the season as he moves on to Manchester City and Carlo Ancelotti takes over.

Bayern, who started the campaign with a record 10 wins in a row, can win a domestic double as they play the cup final on May 21 against Borussia Dortmund.

«I want to share this title with Jupp Heynckes. We achieved something very special,» Guardiola said.

Thomas Mueller, who failed to convert a penalty against Atletico, told Sky TV they played «a brilliant season. It’s extraordinary, we don’t need to play it down.»

Chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge pledged «we will have a nice party tonight» as he spoke of «a historic achievement» which «will partly heal the wounds from Tuesday.»

Bayern have an unassailable lead with 85 points and will get the trophy after the league finale on May 14 against relegated Hanover.

Munich would have even clinched the title with defeat as second-placed Dortmund lost 1-0 at lowly Eintracht Frankfurt, their first 2016 defeat in the league. Dortmund remained on 77 points – a haul good enough for the title in 16 of the past 20 seasons.

Number three Bayer Leverkusen (57) lost 2-1 at fourth-placed Borussia Moenchengladbach (52) who are all but assured of the fourth Champions spot three points ahead of Mainz, Hertha Berlin and Schalke.

Hertha crashed 2-1 against Darmstadt, Mainz won 3-1 at second last VfB Stuttgart, and Schalke were held 1-1 by Augsburg. Wolfsburg won 1-0 at SV Hamburg, Cologne and Werder Bremen produced no goals and Hanover beat Hoffenheim 1-0.

Stuttgart (33) visit Wolfsburg in the last game and appear all but doomed to the first drop since 1975. Their only realistic chance to reach the play-off spot is if third-last Bremen (35) lose a showdown at home against fourth bottom Frankfurt (36).

Hamburg, Darmstadt, Augsburg and Hoffenheim are safe now.

Guardiola rested Jerome Boateng and had Arturo Vidal out injured as Munich attempted to overcome the European exit at their Bavarian rivals Ingolstadt.

Lewandowski opened the scoring in the 15th from the penalty spot after Marvin Matip brought down Franck Ribery, and grabbed the second offa defense-splitting pass from Xabi Alonso.

Ingolstadt’s Moritz Hartmann pulled one back on another penalty before the break, but Bayern hung on to win which started the celebrations with special t-shirts with the printed slogan «4ever».

Frankfurt got a third straight and very vital win over Dortmund from Stefan Aigner’s 14th minute header. But they were lucky because Dortmund captain Mats Hummels was wrongly ruled offside after scoring on the stroke of half-time and headed against the bar right after the restart.

«We did quite well but it was difficult to keep Dortmund away from the goal. The key was to get the three points,» Aigner told Sky.

Frankfurt are one point ahead of Bremen who after a Monday 6-2 drubbing of Stuttgart got another point in Cologne ahead of the two-or-die showdown with Frankfurt.

In Stuttgart, captain Christian Gentner put the hosts ahead early on but Mainz responded from Yunus Malli, Jhon Cordoba’s 54th-minute header and Karim Onisiwo’s tap in the 77th, and frustrated Stuttgart fans invaded the pitch after the game.

«I am sorry for the fans,» defender Kevin Grosskreutz said.

Mainz, Schalke and Hertha hold the Europa League spots behind Gladbach who handed Leverkusen a first loss after seven wins from Andre Hahn’s double.

Hertha continued to run out of steam when Darmstadt’s Jerome Gendorf and Sandro Wagner, who was sent off late, reversed Hertha’s lead from Vladimir Darida. Schalke had to swallow a last-minute equalizer from Augsburg’s Daniel Baier after Klaas-Jan Huntelaar put them ahead in the 82nd.

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