Bundesliga Race Title Chasers
The 2022-23 Bundesliga season certainly will be one for the ages, with a title race that, for once, was actually a real title race, and an intriguing relegation battle that went down to the final matchday. Michelle Osei Bonsu casts an eye over a dramatic campaign in Germany’s top-flight.
The 2022-23 Bundesliga season will be one not to be forgotten. Although, much to the chagrin of Borussia Dortmund fans and footballing purists worldwide, the outcome in the title race was the same tired old song from years past, with Bayern managing to come out on top for the 11th consecutive time. Indeed, the last time die Roten didn’t win the league title was back in 2011; to put it into perspective, many children who were in primary school when Jurgen Klopp’s Dortmund were crowned champions of Germany are now finishing university and are searching for their first jobs. On matchday 34, the title was in Dortmund’s hands. All Edin Terzic’s side needed to do was avoid slipping up at home against a Mainz side who were going nowhere really – die Nullfünfer had long secured safety and had no shot of qualifying for European football. In short, the visiting team were simply at Signal Iduna Park to make up the numbers and wrap up the season.
At least, that is what many observers thought. Bo Svensson’s men clearly had other ideas, and played like a team who were actually battling for something of real significance. By the time the first 45 minutes finished, Mainz were 2-0 to the good, leaving Dortmund, who had a goal by Sébastien Haller disallowed early on, to scramble to try to find a solution.
Despite clawing two goals back, including one in injury time from Niklas Süle to spark a frantic finish, the final whistle did not bring jubilations for Dortmund, who heartbreakingly found that their efforts were in vain thanks to a very late goal from Bayern’s Jamal Musiala against Köln to help die Roten squeak to the title by the narrowest of margins. It was a dramatic sequence of events befitting of a title race that saw the two clubs swap places several times during the final weeks of the season. Even with Dortmund trailing against Mainz, they were suddenly back on course for the title when Köln equalised with just nine minutes to go, only for Musiala to step up with the biggest moment of his young career so far to clinch the title for Bayern and leave all of Dortmund crestfallen. Still, there were some things for Dortmund supporters to celebrate during the season: Haller’s miraculous comeback following a cancer diagnosis, the rise of Jude Bellingham from aspiring starlet to bona fide star, and Marco Reus seeing his fortunes improve somewhat in a devastating battle against injuries that has blighted his career. But as to whether they will be able to mount another title challenge next season remains to be seen, as this was not a vintage Bayern Munich side – not by any stretch. Indeed, Bayern’s latest defence of their Bundesliga crown was beset by in-fighting between players and staff, a shocking ousting of a highly-regarded coach, a desperate scramble to find a replacement, and even more sackings as soon as the season ended. Back in the late 1990’s, Bayern were better known for their club dramas more than actually winning trophies, leading some to mockingly nickname the German giants as “FC Hollywood”. The events of 2022-23 certainly evoked memories of a quarter of a century ago.
While they did just about manage to retain the Bundesliga again as well as winning another DFL-Supercup, they again disappointed in Europe and were knocked out of the DFB-Pokal by Freiburg in the quarter-finals. This was the first time since 2013-14 that Bayern were without the services of Robert Lewandowski, and the Polish striker’s absence was clearly felt despite their efforts to find a replacement in Liverpool’s Sadio Mane.
Unfortunately, Mane’s arrival did not pan out as expected. The Senegalese striker netted just seven Bundesliga goals, which is his lowest output in league play in well over a decade. While he did struggle with injury – with one forcing him to unfortunately miss out on the 2022 World Cup – it was overall a rather disappointing showing from a player of his calibre.
Overall, Mane’s struggles in front of goal were representative of Bayern’s underwhelming showing this season. Not one of their attackers was able to score 20 goals, further illustrating the huge gap Lewandowski left behind after leaving for Barcelona. Desperate to find someone to blame for another dismal showing in Europe, out of nowhere Bayern decided to fire Julian Naglesmann in March – the same young manager they had paid approximately £21.7 million to prise him away from RB Leipzig in 2021, making him the most expensive managerial signing ever.
Firing a coach mid-season does not come without some repercussions, and in desperation, they turned to Thomas Tuchel, who had been sacked by Chelsea back in 2022 and was looking for a new challenge. Tuchel’s reign started off well enough, with a 4-2 win over Borussia Dortmund in Der Klassiker to help die Roten reclaim top spot in their intense title battle, but it was under his tutelage that Bayern lost 2-1 to Freiburg in the DFB-Pokal and thus failed to win that competition for three consecutive years for the first time since the turn of the current century. Bayern’s timid showing during their 3-0 loss to Manchester City in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final – which certainly could have been much worse – did not help Tuchel’s case as the right man to lead the side, and 3-1 losses to Mainz and then again to RB Leipzig on the penultimate weekend of the season have also raised questions.
In summary, Bayern might have won the title, but it was hardly a convincing showing. For the first time since the 1999-2000 campaign, the Bundesliga title was decided on goal difference, and Bayern were largely helped by some of the typical pummellings they doled out to the likes of Bochum (7-0) and Schalke (6-0).
Simply put, Borussia Dortmund have only themselves to blame for failing to get over the finish line, and Bayern, now having made it an 11th Bundesliga title on the trot, will be spending the summer thinking about how they can revive the team to challenge for titles next season – as they might not be so lucky with the league crown next time around if they underperform again.
As Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund were battling it out for the Bundesliga title, several other teams were locked in an intriguing tussle for a spot in the Champions League for 2023-24, including many surprise names. With two spots up for grabs, RB Leipzig ensured that they snatched third spot thanks to an excellent run of form that saw die Roten Bullen win their last five games of the season, including that aforementioned victory over eventual champions Bayern.
That meant only one spot was left up for grabs, and after a season where a number of clubs threatened to force their way into contention, it came down to a final day battle between Union Berlin and Freiburg. Christian Streich’s side had briefly seized top spot in the table, and for several spells, had managed to hang on to second and third spot before a few hiccups sent them down to sixth. Although they rallied back and were set to move into fourth place thanks to Vincenzo Grifo’s goal against Eintracht Frankfurt, they were ultimately defeated 2-1, and coupled with Union Berlin’s 1-0 victory against Werder Bremen, Freiburg will have to settle for Europa League football next season, which, considering they were only re-promoted to the Bundesliga in 2016, is not such a terrible thing.
Meanwhile, Union Berlin’s rise from only making their forays in the Bundesliga in 2019-20 to now qualifying for the Champions League is certainly something worthy of a footballing documentary. Since being promoted, they have consistently made startling progress and qualified for European football. First was the inaugural Europa Conference League following a seventh-placed finish, followed by the Europa League thanks to a fifth-placed result. And now, they will taste Champions League football thanks to securing fourth spot.
Impressively, Union Berlin even led the table for six rounds, and kicked off the season with a seven game unbeaten streak. Key to Urs Fischer’s men’s success was their impressive home record: 11 wins, six draws, and zero losses. In short, the new boys on the block posted the best home record of any team competing in the top-flight – not even Bayern or Borussia Dortmund could claim that they had remained unbeaten on home turf.
All in all, there is a great sense of excitement about this Union Berlin side, but at the same time, there have been quite few teams who have burst onto the scene in other leagues only to burn out. So the question now is how they will cope with featuring in the Champions League next season, and if they are able to keep all their key players in the fold.
Just as interesting as the title race was the relegation battle, which also went down to the final matchday. Schalke’s latest stay in the top-flight ended up being a short one, as die Königsblauen were agonisingly relegated to the 2.Bundesliga on the final matchday following their 4-2 loss to RB Leipzig. Meanwhile, Hertha Berlin, who spent most of the season pretty much rooted to the bottom of the table, won their final game 2-1 against Wolfsburg but it was in vain as they had already been relegated even before the first whistle blew.
Augsburg, despite losing their final three games, narrowly escaped the drop thanks to Stuttgart’s 1-1 draw against Hoffenheim. That sent Stuttgart into a relegation play-off, and they managed to remain in the Bundesliga by seeing off Hamburg over two legs.