After a long and exciting roller-coaster ride of 34 matchdays, the Bundesliga finally had their champions of this season, and it was none other than Bayern Munich, who marched their way towards a record-breaking eighth consecutive top-flight German title.
After a meek start to their title defence, the Bavarians had fallen to seventh on the standings at one point in time earlier this season. But since Hansi Flick took over the reins from Niko Kovac, the German coach helped his team to comprehensively win the Bundesliga title.
Bayern Munich surely had to wait for a long period as the COVID-19-enforced break had put all sporting activities to a halt, but they made great use of the break and came out firing on all cylinders as they embarked on a 16-game winning streak across all competitions, since their 0-0 draw against RB Leipzig in February.
That being said, apart from Die Roten’s heroics, the current Bundesliga season was truly a memorable one because of several other mini battles, and to take a look at all of them in a nutshell, we decided to come up with a review of the season, including all important stats.
Champions: Bayern Munich
Ahead of the season, both RB Leipzig and Borussia Dortmund were expected to push the Bavarians all the way for the title, and they certainly did so, but the appointment of Hansi Flick in November proved to be a game-changer.
Squad wise, Bayern Munich were visibly superior to their adversaries, although a huge chunk of their big-name players were under-performing.
But after a change in the dugout, the likes of Thomas Muller, who was previously struggling with form and fitness-related issues, started to take centre-stage.
Muller, in particular, became a key cog within the Bayern juggernaut, as his eight goals and a Bundesliga record of 21 assists helped the club retain their league title.
Die Roten won 26 matches throughout the season, playing out four draws and losing as many games. They scored 100 goals in the league and conceded only 32 times, which is less than one goal per game.
European places: Who achieved what?
Despite a strong start to the season, Borussia Dortmund only managed to finish in second place. But BVB can take heart from the way they dominated towards the end of the campaign, barring their loss against Bayern.
RB Leipzig finished third, only three points behind Dortmund, but the fact that their talisman Timo Werner has now left for Chelsea means Julian Nagelsmann has a big gap to fill in his playing XI.
Meanwhile, after a dogged race for Champions League qualification with Bayer Leverkusen, Borussia Monchengladbach, finished fourth and will join Bayern, Dortmund and Leipzig in Europe’s premier club competition next season.
As for Leverkusen, they will have to make do with a place in the Europa League, having finished fifth on the table, despite the heroics of their marquee player Kai Havertz.
Elsewhere, sixth-placed Hoffenheim claimed the other berth for the Europa League, while Wolfsburg, who pipped Freiburg to seventh place, will have to play in the qualification rounds of the continental competition.
Who got relegated to the 2. Bundesliga?
Paderborn, who could win just four matches all season, finished bottom of the pile and bid adieu to the top flight alongside Fortuna Dusseldorf, who played a staggering 12 draws during the course of the season.
To their credit, Werder Bremen managed to finish 16th on the table and will take part in the relegation playoff, as they finished five points behind 15th-placed Augsburg, who somehow salvaged their Bundesliga status.
Surprise Package of the Season: Freiburg
Freiburg really exceeded expectations all season as they narrowly missed out on a Europa League qualification berth. A club which could only muster a 13th place finish last season, never fell into the second half of the table in the present campaign.
Having begun the season on an excellent note, Freiburg could only muster 13 wins in the end. However, it’s a big positive on which the Schwarzwald Stadion outfit can build upon.
Key stats from the 2019-20 Bundesliga season
- Bayern Munich scored the most goals in the league this season, with 100 strikes to their credit. They also conceded the least number of goals, just 32 in 34 matches.
- Any guesses who conceded the highest number of goals? The team who won the fewest number of matches all season, Paderborn let in a staggering 74 goals while they scored exactly half of that number, 37.
- Robert Lewandowski finished as the top scorer of the league with 34 goals, for a third consecutive season, becoming only the second player to have achieved such a feat, behind Bundesliga’s all-time leading goalscorer, Gerd Muller.
- Thomas Muller’s tally of 21 assists in a season is a Bundesliga record. The previous record was held by Kevin De Bruyne, who had racked up 19 assists in the 2014-15 season.
- Bayern Munich won 13 matches on the spin since their 0-0 draw with RB Leipzig on matchday 21, a marvellous feat.
- Manuel Neuer ended the current season with 15 clean sheets, the most by any goalkeeper in the division.