BUNDESLIGA
Another catching league
that had some spice of twists and turns was the first tier of the German Football
League. Though the defending champions opened the 2011/12 season on a
victorious note courtesy a 3-1 thrashing of Hamburger, proceeding matches was a
twist against Borussia Dortmund and the contrary in favour of Bayern Munich who
had a 1 nil opening day loss to Borussia Monchengladbach at home. This indeed
must have been a big spur to Monchengladbach finishing the 2011/2012 season on
a fly as against the 2010/2011 season when they were close to getting relegated
to 2 Bundesliga.
Interestingly as the
season went underway and I tuned to follow the Bundesliga on TV, reading
comments and analysis on the internet, I noticed one thing with somewhat of a
repetition and déjà vu; all fingers pointing and words directed at Bayern Munich
as firm favourites to clinch their first Bundesliga title in 3 years but indeed
as they say, it isn’t over until the final blow of the whistle by the referee,
a phrase I will remix to it is not over until the trophy or shield is
presented to the champions.
Besides the favourable
score line to Borussia Dortmund and contrary to Bayern Munich on match day 1,
succeeding matches was one Bayern would have wished continued to the end of the
season. Though lasting 8 matches from day 2, Bayern Munich recorded an
astonishing 8 matches clean sheet and finding the back of the net of their
opponents 25 times, the highlight to this was the 7 nil whitewash of SC
Freiburg on Match day 5 and as at this time, Bayern were on 22 points,
signifying a 6 point lead over Borussia Drtmund.
Nevertheless, such
brushing of opponents sojourned. This sojourn was marked by the match day 10 “2
– 1” away loss to Hannover 96, a match that put an end to the clean sheet
enjoyed by Manuel Neuer, and simultaneously granting the Bundesliga defending Champions
a closure of the gap to 3 points.
However, as the season
went further, precisely on match day 14, Bayern Munich lost its grip on the first
place Borussia Dortmund, a first place that Bayern had held on to since match day
4 to. This slip from first place by Bayern arose as a result of their 3-2 away loss to FSV Mainz as against
Borussia Dortmund that recorded a 2 nil victory over Schalke 04.
But interestingly, this
loss in grip of the Bundesliga summit was for only match day 14, as match day
15 brought forth the 4 – 1 thumping of Werder Bremen by Bayern Munich and 1 all
draw by the two teams with the same first names in the Bundesliga
(Monchengladbach and Dortmund) took Bayern Munich back to the summit of the
Bundesliga, a twists that only transient 5 matches, ending on match day 20 that
for the second time had Borussia Dortmund topping Bayern Munich, a displacement I can only imagine had Bayern Munich fans and
players say to themselves; Not again!
Indeed, this was a statement
that unknown to many was going to be the last time it would be said as Borussia
Dortmund were in to define what a firm grip of the table summit entails,
recording a remarkable 28 match unbeaten run, a run that kicked off on match
day 7 sequel to match day 6 (2 – 1 loss away to Hannover 96).
But as the league
climaxed, the 21 in the 48 year old and seasons Bundesliga winners; first team
to win the double comprising the Bundesliga and DFB Pokal and unprecedentedly
the only team to have won both competitions more than once, totaling 8 times
had a chance to shut the gap.
This opportunity came
on match day 30, precisely on the 10th of April 2012, a day that
Bayern Munich had a chance to revenge their match day 13 1 nil home loss to
Borussia Dortmund.
But on match day 30
with only 3 points separating Dortmund at 66 points and Bayern Munich at 63
points before the match between both Bundesliga contenders, there was a moment
of magic needed on the part of Bayern to turn the table around and be much closer
to clinching their first title in 3 years but that was not the case as to those
who believe in destiny, the day was indeed not meant to be theirs, a day marked
by the penalty miss of Arjen Robben further getting the final scores on match-day
30 a déjà vu to match day 13. This déjà vu had Borussia Dortmund expanding the
points lead to 6 points and of course the bundesliga title shield saying Bye bye
to Bayern Munich and welcome to me again to Borussia Dortmund as Dortmund
cruised all the way till 5 May, 2012; thus match day 34 when the curtains were
closed on the season and Borussia Dortmund winning the league with an exceptional
81 points (as against 75 points the previous season) which signified them being
8 points clear off Bayern Munich.
Bayern Munich having
lost the Bundesliga that Borussia Dortmund lifted on 5 May 2012, were left with
2 last chances to at least lift something and have what I call a
positive ironical ending to the 2011/12 season. These chances were the DFB
Pokal (German Cup) final on 12 May 2012 day and the UEFA Champions League final
on the 19th of May. But this was not to be as Bayern Munich (15 times German
cup winners) were at the receiving end of a 5-2 wallop from Borussia Dortmund in the DFB Pokal (German Cup), further losing
the UEFA Champions League at home to Chelsea which marked a season of second spot
finish and seeing without touching all tourneys they embarked on.
Bayern Munich and
Borussia Dortmund discussed, one team that its exclusion from this work will
get it incomplete is the team that has the same first name as Dortmund, thus
Monchengladbach.
Borussia Monchengladbach
in the preceding season had a 16 position finish which entailed the club having
one leg in the 2 Bundesliga (second tier of German football league) and the other
in the Bundesliga. To this end, the only way Borussia Monchengladbach could
have a 2011/2012 season in the top flight was by recording a victory in the
traditional relegation/promotion battle between the 16th placed team
in the Bundesliga and the 3rd placed team in the 2 Bundesliga.
A victory they recorded,
triumphing over VfL Bochum with a 2-1 aggregate win further sealing extending their
stay in the German Football league top flight to 4 straight seasons considering
the fact that they got relegated in the 2006/2007 season then bounced back to
the top flight in the 2008/2009 season on their first attempt. These said, the
fourth place finish of Borussia Monchengladbach is one to behold further
reminiscing the 2 great moments they recorded against Bayern Munich, thus the 1
nil match day 1 victory at the Allianz Arena and match day 18 3-1 home victory.
However, the fourth
place finish on 60 pts which got Monchengladbach ahead of Bundesliga greats of
recent years like Bayer Leverkusen, Werder Bremen and Stuttgart, added to the
lucrative opportunity to within touching distance partake in the 2012/2013 UEFA
Champions League pending they scale through the qualifiers, the 2011/12 season
for Borussia Monchengladbach could be somewhat of a reminiscing to the hey days
of Monchengladbach, a period between the 1969/70 and 1976/77 seasons when they
won the league Bundesliga 5times.
With the Bundesliga
2012/13 season to kick off in August, will the 49th Bundesliga
season mark 3 seasons with Bayern Munich seeing without being at the summit of
the table on match day 34 or perhaps three straight season of Borussia Dortmund
touching and lifting the shield or maybe, just maybe the unfolding of the
biggest twists in the Bundesliga history.
Only time will tell,
Bundesliga 2012/2013 season, the excitement continues…
2011/2012 Bundesliga Champions; Borussia Dortmund lifting the shield
Image Source: Google Image
References:
“Bundesliga League Tables and Results” Fussball
live 19 June 2012. <fussball.wettpoint.com/en/tables/gamedays-1bundesliga-germany.html>
“List of German football champions”
Wikipedia 20 June 2012 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_German_football_champions>
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