Yeah, we really should have seen this coming. Despite seeing Bayern have their worst season in a decade, Borussia Dortmund completely choked away the Bundesliga title as they drew 2-2 vs. Mainz on the final matchday to allow Bayern to jump them on goal difference.
Dortmund really are the Spurs of the Bundesliga.
After over a decade-long wait, Borussia Dortmund had the chance to finally end the reign of Bayern Munich atop of the Bundesliga as they simply had to beat 8th placed Mainz to secure 1st place and the club’s 9th domestic title. They ended up drawing 2-2 with Mainz after going down 2-0 as Bayern beat Koln 2-1, ensuring the Munich giant would win their 33rd league title on goal difference.
You know, I would really hate to be a Borussia Dortmund fan. Not only does the club have some of the worst luck ever when it comes to winning major trophies (they’ve finished runners-up/2nd place in 17 of their last 47 domestic competitions and have only won 7/47 since 2011-12), but they also are the literal worst team in Germany to bet on winning a title.
Why? Oh, well, it might be due to the fact that Dortmund have now finished 2nd place in the German league a record-breaking 11 times, surpassing the two other record holders in FC Schalke and Bayern Munich. And this 2nd place finish was completely deserved as Dortmund were AWFUL against Mainz.
Even though this team is filled with young, inexperienced players (ex: Julian Ryerson, Gregor Kobel, Karim Adeyemi, Donyell Malen, Julien Duranville, Youssoufa Moukoko, Gio Reyna, and even Jude Bellingham to a degree), the lack of fight and confidence they showed in the opening 70 minutes of the game despite being the best team in German (at the time).
Mainz, who had literally nothing to play for as they entered the match 7 points out of a European spot, scored two easy headers (Andreas Hachan-Olsen’s goal came from a corner in the 15th minute, Karim Onisiwo’s goal came from an unmarked header inside the penalty box in the 24th minute) on a tepid Dortmund defense, while the Dortmund offense successfully shot itself in the foot.
Whether it was Sebastien Haller missing a penalty, Raphael Guerreiro missing a curler just over the bar (he did make up for it by scoring Dortmund’s first goal), Julian Brandt firing the ball right at the keeper despite having a 5 vs. 2, or Haller scoring an offside goal in stoppage time, Borussia Dortmund simply couldn’t convert their chances when it really mattered and allowed this game to get away from them.
Sure, they had a decent 2-goal comeback after playing worse than literal garbage, but they needed to win this match as everyone knew Bayern Munich would beat Koln and boost their superior goal difference (GD: Bayern-54, Dortmund-39) before the day was done. And, obviously, that’s exactly what they did.
To be honest, Bayern really should have lost to Koln as a wonder strike by Kinglsey Coman in the 8th minute started off the scoring, but numerous misses, shots off the post, and shots directly at Marvin Schwäbe (Koln’s keeper) allowed Koln to hold on and eventually level the game through a Dejan Ljubicic penalty with under 10 minutes to play.
So, at that point of the day, it really seemed like both title challengers were going to bottle the league title straight into Dortmund’s lap…but that’s when Bayern remembered who they were.
Unlike Dortmund, Bayern Munich are no bottlers and they kept fighting and attacking the Koln net, which eventually allowed young Jamal Musiala to turn, spin into a better shooting position outside the box, and burry a side-foot curler into the far corner to give Bayern the title with a single minute to spare in regular time.
It really was a fantastic finish deserving of a title reward as Musiala kept his calm, ignored the defenders around him, and kept his shot low to the ground and just far away from the keeper’s reach. And, it goes without saying that this was a magically day of German football…if you aren’t a Dortmund fan.
I’ll obviously congratulate Bayern for a record-breaking 11th straight title win in the Bundesliga era (the record was actually 3 with Borussia Mönchengladbach winning three straight from 1974-77 prior to this epic Bayern run), but I’m not going to say they deserved to win the title. They were AWFUL this season…by their standards.
As for Dortmund, they were even more pathetic as they failed to win the easiest Bundesliga title race in the last 11 years due to the club’s ingrained choking mentality.
Well, that’s a wrap on the 2022/23 Bundesliga season. Who can’t wait for Bayern to win their 12th title by an utter landslide next season to make up for this debacle?
Images Source: Featured Image:
