BAYERN BEAT DORTMUND 3-1 AS THEY CLINCH TO 10TH STRAIGHT RECORD-BREAKING TITLE VICTORY.
Bayern Munich sealed their record 31st Bundesliga title with an impressive 3-1 win over Borussia Dortmund in the 133rd Der Klassiker at the Allianz Arena, making Julian Nagelsmann, at 34-years-old, the youngest ever manager to win the league title.
Knowing that a victory against their Der Klassiker rivals would clinch a record 10th successive league title, Bayern got off to a perfect start within the first quarter-hour. Serge Gnabry lashed a spectacular volley from the edge of the box to condemn the visitors to a poor start, reaching a personal best of 13 goals in a league season. The German ace then thought he had registered a brace with an opportune finish, but saw celebrations cut short after an offside call, much to the relief of the visitors.
That remission was however short-lived, as ‘Die Roten’ marksman Robert Lewandowski struck a poacher’s finish from the edge of the box in the 34th minute to further disappoint his former side and take his personal tally to 32 Der Klassiker goals – the most by any player in the fixture’s history. Meanwhile, Dortmund headed into the break aware of the fact that their inability to muster a shot on target would have coach Marco Rose fuming.
A clumsy challenge by Joshua Kimmich on Marco Reus in the box shook things up after the restart, as ‘Die Borussen’ were handed a lifeline with a penalty. Having never missed a spot-kick in his senior career, Emre Can slotted his spot-kick past Manuel Neuer to bring Dortmund back to life. Perhaps energized by a HT team-talk, the visitors looked eager to deny the Bavarians from clinching the league title at their expense, but came painfully close to conceding a third via main man Lewandowski, whose point-blank effort was terrifically parried away by Marwin Hitz as the final quarter-hour approached. Nonetheless, young prodigy Jamal Musiala finally put the game to bed six minutes before FT after displaying some skillful footwork on the left flank and etching the ball past Hitz to send Dortmund packing.
Nagelsmann’s Bayern cruised to a ninth straight unbeaten league encounter, with a deafening Allianz Arena cheering in all its pride for winning the championship title. Meanwhile, the visitors tasted their first away league defeat of the calendar year, and will have to make do with a familiar second position in the league.
