MUNICH: Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski broke Gerd Mueller’s 49-year-old Bundesliga goal-scoring record for a single season on Saturday when he scored in the last minute of their last match, a 5-2 win over Augsburg, taking his tally to 41 goals, one more than the former Bayern great.

The Poland striker is already second on the all-time scorers list in the Bundesliga, with 277 goals now, behind only Mueller’s 365. Mueller set the previous record in the 1971/72 season with 40 goals, which Lewandowski equalled last week.

Lewandowski missed more than half a dozen clear scoring chances in the game and looked set to miss out on the record, with Augsburg determined not to let him add to his tally and snatch the record away from Mueller, a youth idol of Augsburg coach Markus Weinzierl.

But the Pole was not to be denied and in the final minute, when keeper Rafal Gikiewicz spilled a Leroy Sane shot, the forward rounded the keeper to score.

“You wait for 90 minutes and then it comes in the last few seconds,” Lewandowski told Sky. “It was like being in a science fiction film. I’ve lost my voice. I saw Leroy shoot for goal, I had to keep believing and luckily it came off.”

Lewandowski claimed the record having had his six previous shots all saved as Bayern were presented with the Bundesliga trophy after the final whistle for the ninth straight season They finished the season 13 points clear in the table.

“I was a little bit disappointed to have not scored sooner, but sometimes such records have to be fought for,” added Lewandowski. “I was patient and believed until the end. I thank my team, who share the record with me.”

With coach Hansi Flick and several players of the old guard — Javi Martinez, David Alaba and Jerome Boateng — bidding farewell to the club, and 250 invited fans in the 75,000-seat arena, it was an emotional afternoon for Bayern with the championship long wrapped up.

It did not take long for the hosts to take the lead, with Augsburg’s Jeffrey Gouweleeuw stabbing the ball into his own net from a Serge Gnabry cutback in the ninth minute.

Gnabry then headed in their second goal in the 23rd after Gikiewicz had saved a point blank effort by Lewandowski.

A minute later Bayern keeper Manuel Neuer denied Daniel Caligiuri from the penalty spot, before Joshua Kimmich launched a 20-metre missile to make it 3-0 for the hosts.

Kingsley Coman also got onto the scoresheet, scoring two minutes before the break, with his low crisp shot whizzing past Gikiewicz.

The visitors came to life midway through the second half, scoring twice with Andre Hahn and Florian Niederlechner. But it was Lewandowski who had the last say.

Also on the last day of the season, Werder Bremen were relegated to the second division after 40 years in Germany’s top flight and Union Berlin qualified for Europe for the first time.

Bremen lost 4-2 at home to Borussia Moenchengladbach and were relegated automatically after Sebastiaan Bornauw scored a late winner for Cologne to beat already relegated Schalke 04 1-0.

Bremen dropped second last, two points behind Cologne, who clinched a two-leg relegation/promotion playoff against the team that finishes third in the second division. This is Bremen’s first relegation since 1979/80 before coming back up the following season.

“At the moment it’s hard to say anything,” caretaker coach Thomas Schaaf, who stepped in after Florian Kohfeldt was sacked last weekend, told Sky. “We didn’t manage to do what we wanted to do. We missed the huge opportunity to equalise, which we needed. We fought back too late.”

A loosening of the hygiene rules in Bremen meant there were a 100 spectators in the stadium, mostly club employees, but there was near silence at the final whistle among the stunned hosts.

Max Kruse scored late for Union to beat second-placed RB Leipzig 2-1 to clinch seventh place and qualify for UEFAs new Europa Conference League competition next season. Union needed a win to stay ahead of Gladbach.

Borussia Dortmund striker Erling Haaland scored twice as his team beat Bayer Leverkusen 3-1 to finish the season in third place.

Final standings

(Tabulated under played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points):

Bayern Munich 34 24 6 4 99 44 78

RB Leipzig 34 19 8 7 60 32 65

Borussia Dortmund 34 20 4 10 75 46 64

VfL Wolfsburg 34 17 10 7 61 37 61

Eintracht Frankfurt 34 16 12 6 69 53 60

Bayer Leverkusen 34 14 10 10 53 39 52

Union Berlin 34 12 14 8 50 43 50

Borussia Moenchengladbach 34 13 10 11 64 56 49

VfB Stuttgart 34 12 9 13 56 55 45

Freiburg 34 12 9 13 52 52 45

Hoffenheim 34 11 10 13 52 54 43

Mainz 05 34 10 9 15 39 56 39

Augsburg 34 10 6 18 36 54 36

Hertha BSC Berlin 34 8 11 15 41 52 35

Arminia Bielefeld 34 9 8 17 26 52 35

FC Cologne 34 8 9 17 34 60 33

Werder Bremen 34 7 10 17 36 57 31

Schalke 04 34 3 7 24 25 86 16

Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2021