BERLIN: For the eighth straight year, Bayern Munich’s players celebrated winning the Bundesliga title.This celebration, though, was unlike any of the previous seven.The players’ cheers echoed around an empty stadium after Robert Lewandowski’s volley secured a 1-0 win at Werder Bremen on Tuesday, and the title with two rounds to go.

With no fans in the stands because of the coronavirus pandemic, it was a subdued and strange display of emotions as the players put on commemorative T-shirts and waved to their absent supporters.German media have dubbed the team the ‘Geister-Meister’: the ghost champions.

“Celebrating without the fans is a bit complicated,” Lewand­owski told broadcaster Sky. “The atmosphere is missing and something else, not the motivation, but the passion from the fans.”

The game which secured the title was anything but typical Bayern, who have made a habit of exuberant, high-scoring wins.A deft chip over the Bremen defence from Jerome Boateng was chested down and volleyed home by Lewandowski, who claimed his 31st league goal this season and his 46th in all competitions, shortly before half-time.But Bayern endured a nervy finale after teenage left-back Alphonso Davies was sent off 11 minutes before the final whistle for a second yellow card.

If not for a late one-handed save by goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, the celebrations would have had to wait.

The win put Bayern 10 points clear of second-placed Borussia Dortmund, who have three remaining games, as coach Hansi Flick won the league title in his first season in charge.

“Compliments to the team, it is sensational what we have achieved in the past few months,” said Flick whose side have won all of their last 14 games. “Today there is no criticism, you have to emphasise the way the players have done it. Player and coach, team have simply been one unit.”

Flick has coached Bayern to 26 wins from 29 games in all competitions since he took over in November after Niko Kovac had led the team to a 5-1 loss at Eintracht Frankfurt. Flick started out as an interim coach but was given an extension to 2023 in April.

Bayern are chasing a possible treble. They can add the DFB Cup if they beat Bayer Leverkusen in the July 4 final and are in contention for the Champions League. Europe’s premier club competition was postponed because of the coronavirus but is due to finish in a tournament format in August.

“We’ve got enough time to get ready for it,” Lewandowski said of the Champions League.Germany’s relatively early finish is likely to leave Bayern a month without competitive games after the German Cup final. Bayern still need to play the second leg of a last-16 fixture with Chelsea after winning the first game 3-0 in February.

The result keeps Werder Bremen second-from-bottom with just two games left to avoid dropping down to the second-tier for the first time since 1980.

PADERBORN RELEGATED

Bottom side Paderborn had their relegation confirmed with a 1-0 defeat at Union Berlin after an own goal from the visitors by Ben Zolinski.There was always a little bit missing in our game”, said Paderborn captain Christian Strohdiek.When the disappointment fades, we can simply be proud of what we have achieved in the last few years,” added Strohdiek after Paderborn had earned back-to-back promotions in the previous seasons.

Union’s win in Berlin means they are guaranteed a second Bundesliga season having come up for the first time in 2018/19.Seventh-placed Freiburg stayed in the hunt for a Europa League place next season after replacement striker Nils Petersen came off the bench to net the winning goal and seal a 2-1 win at home to Hertha Berlin.

It was Petersen’s 11th goal of the season, but the 25th of his career which he has scored as a substitute.Earlier, Borussia Moenchengladbach stayed in the hunt for a Champions League berth with an emphatic 3-0 home win over VfL Wolfsburg as midfielder Jonas Hofmann scored twice.

Gladbach moved back into the fourth and final Champions League spot, two points ahead of Bayer Leverkusen, who have game in hand.Bayern and Borussia Dortmund have already qualified for next season’s group stage, while RB Leipzig sit third, five points clear of Leverkusen.

The defeat leaves Wolfsburg sixth, which carries a Europa League place next season.

Published in Dawn, June 18th, 2020