After a dramatically shortened winter break, the Bundesliga returns this weekend. It's tight at the top, but is there actually any hope for Bayern Munich's challengers? Will we see fans again? And will Schalke ever win?
Bayern Munich are top and have picked up points against all their title rivalsImage: Andreas Gebert/REUTERS
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Is this really a title race?
Bayern Munich in 2020: A defining year
Bayern Munich swept all before them this year, winning five trophies and setting countless new records along the way — all within Hansi Flick's first year as head coach. Here's a look back at some of the highlights.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/R. Wittek
Thiago’s masterclass in Mainz
On February 1, on a damp and cold day in Mainz, we really started to see Bayern flex their muscles under Hansi Flick for the first time. A 3-1 win at Mainz is routine business for Bayern, but it was a victory that not only saw them return to the top of the Bundesliga for the first time since Niko Kovac’s stormy reign, but one that delivered a superb goal by Thiago Alcantara.
Image: Getty Images/Bongarts/A. Grimm
Hopp, skip and a leap
Bayern showed their extra quality on the extra day of the year. February 29 was the day that Bayern leapt ahead of their title rivals with a 6-0 thrashing of Hoffenheim. But the game is remembered more for the protests of Bayern’s ultras against Hoffenheim owner Dietmar Hopp, which led to the players first leaving the pitch then playing the match out at a walking pace.
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Auf wiedersehen to fans
Bayern’s last game in front of fans was on March 8, coinciding with Bayern’s 120th anniversary. A massive tifo spanned the Allianz Arena as Bayern marked the occasion with a special kit and, of course, a 2-0 win to extend their Bundesliga lead. Little did anyone know that this would be last time Bayern would play in front of a full house for a very long time.
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Kimmich's Klassiker
After an 11-week hiatus, the Bundesliga was the first of Europe’s top leagues to return following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Bayern returned with a 2-0 win at Union Berlin before heading to Dortmund a week later on May 26 for a decisive Klassiker. Bayern’s class shone through, with Joshua Kimmich’s majestic chip the only goal of a high quality game and effectively the title decider.
Image: AFP/F. Gambarini
Eight straight
On June 16, Bayern traveled to Werder Bremen with the chance to seal their eighth straight Bundesliga title. Bremen were fighting for Bundesliga survival at the time and made it hard for Bayern, but there was no holding them down. Bayern won 1-0 courtesy of Robert Lewandowski to secure their 30th German title and the first silverware of Hansi Flick’s Bayern reign.
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Double delight
Less than three weeks after winning the Bundesliga, Bayern did the job in the German Cup final too. Attack-minded Bayer Leverkusen headed to Berlin with high hopes, but they couldn’t match Bayern’s scintillating display. David Alaba’s deftly flighted free-kick set the tone for Bayern, with Serge Gnabry and a Robert Lewandowski double securing a 4-2 win and a second title in quick succession.
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Barca bloodbath
With a domestic double wrapped up, Bayern shifted their focus to the Champions League. Having dealt with Chelsea, Bayern arrived in Portugal for a one-legged knockout format of the competition. They faced Barcelona in the quarterfinals and blew them away 8-2. It was the first time since 1946 that Barca had conceded eight and a scoreline that would send shockwaves around Europe.
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Kings of Europe
Paris Saint-Germain, the new-money stars of French football, met Bayern Munich, the German aristocrats, in club football’s biggest game on August 23. Many expected a goal feast but instead it was a high quality game of chess settled by a solitary goal. Kingsley Coman, the former PSG player raised in the suburbs of Paris, scored it for Bayern to reclaim their European crown and secure the treble.
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Quadruple
A treble wasn’t enough for Bayern though. After a short break following the late completion of the season, they faced Sevilla, winners of the Europa League, in the UEFA Super Cup in Budapest on September 24. Javi Martinez was Bayern's unlikely extra-time hero but thousands of Bayern fans declined to travel, with Budapest grappling with sharply rising COVID cases at the time.
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23, the magic number
The victory in Budapest was also notable for being Bayern's 23rd straight victory, a new record in European football. They beat the previous record of 22, held by Carlo Ancelotti’s Real Madrid since 2014, but couldn't build on that, succumbing to a surprise 4-1 defeat at Hoffenheim a few days later. However, they amassed a staggering 78 goals during the run, conceding just 16 with 12 clean sheets.
Image: Reuters/A. Hilse
Make that five
Just in case there was any doubt that Bayern were the best team around, Bayern followed up their UEFA Super Cup win less than a week later with victory in the German equivalent. Dortmund were Bayern’s challengers at the Allianz Arena but the Black and Yellows, despite putting up a good fight, lost 3-2. And it was their familiar foe Joshua Kimmich, who delivered the late winning goal.
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King Lewa
It was another vintage year for Robert Lewandowski. Bayern’s number 9 ended the 2019-20 season with 34 goals, more than anyone in any of Europe’s big five leagues. He also scored 15 in the Champions League, five more than anyone else, and started the new Bundesliga season with 10 goals in his first 5 games — also a record. He was named FIFA Best Men's Player, too.
Image: Marco Donato/FC Bayern/Getty Images/picture alliance
The Flick Effect
Less than a year into the job, Bayern head coach Hansi Flick could bask in the glory of an unprecedented haul of five trophies. The Bundesliga, the German Cup, the Champions League, the UEFA Super Cup, the German Supercup: everything his heart desired. An unparalleled achievement and the best coaching debut season in football history.
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With 13 games played, two points separate the top three. It certainly looks like one. But we've been here before. Just last season, RB Leipzig topped the pile when the Bundesliga took its winter break, while Borussia Dortmund took the Herbstmeister (autumn champion) crown the season before that. Neither managed to sustain a serious challenge. The break comes after fewer games this year and, with even Hansi Flick admitting Bayern looked tired in December, some felt RB, Dortmund or Bayer Leverkusen could take advantage. But when it came to it, none of the pretenders could beat the champions. A scrappy, late 2-1 Bayern win over Leverkusen was as ominous a sign as it gets for the Bundesliga's hopes of a new champion for the first time since 2012. Between now and their clash with Dortmund in early March, the champions play 10 league games, none of which are against teams higher than eighth. There's a serious danger that a ninth consecutive title could be in the bag by spring.
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Will fans return in 2021?
The short answer, unsurprisingly, is that no one really knows. Terrace culture is one of German football's biggest attractions but, despite a brief period where a handful of fans were allowed earlier in the season, empty stands have become the norm. Though Germany has recently begun to vaccinate high-risk citizens against COVID-19, the return of large crowds this season seems a remote possibility. A return to socially distanced crowds of a few thousand in certain regions seems more likely. Bayern Munich CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge recently said he was: "cautiously optimistic that we'll once again have spectators back in the Allianz Arena over the course of the year." Cautious optimism is probably the best case for this season, if not neccessarily this year.
Empty terraces have become the norm at Bundesliga stadiumsImage: Matthias Hangst/Getty Images
How will the condensed schedule affect things?
Another impact of the pandemic has been the squeezing of the Bundesliga season. Normally at this point, clubs still have weeks of the winter break ahead of them, having played half (17) of their league games. This time around, the break between the German Cup second round and the resumption of the Bundesliga is just 10 days and there are four league games to make up. The six German teams still in European competition in particular will be stretched to their limit over the next six months and squad management will likely be critical. Julian Nagelsmann has proved adept at that with a bigger squad at RB Leipzig while Hansi Flick has plenty of options in some positions but looks a little short in others. Normally a quiet time for Bundesliga sides, the January transfer window could be a time for many to strengthen their squad this time round.
RB Leipzig have qualified for the Champions League knockout stages for the second year runningImage: Annegret Hilse/Reuters
Will Schalke become the Bundesliga's worst ever?
The squad that needs strengthening the most are probably Schalke, who sit winless at the bottom of the table. But the money has run out, players have been released, two head coaches have been sacked and their latest hope, Christian Gross, hasn't coached in Europe since being sacked by Young Boys in 2012. Despite picking up just 4 points from their 13 games, the Royal Blues are actually only two wins from Arminia Bielefeld, who occupy the relgation playoff spot. But just one win seems impossible for the Gelsenkirchen club. If they fail to beat Hertha Berlin away on Saturday, or Hoffenheim at home the week after, it'll be a year since they last tasted Bundesliga victory. Furthermore, that'd also bring them equal with the Tasmania Berlin team of 1965-66 as the team to have recorded the Bundesliga's longest winless streak.
Tasmania Berlin proud of their winless record
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What next for Borussia Dortmund?
Things are better for their Ruhr rivals in Dortmund, but that's not to say things are running smoothly at the Westfalenstadion. Lucien Favre bit the bullet in mid-December after a 5-1 home defeat to newly promoted Stuttgart. But a succession plan still isn't entirely clear. Assistant coach Edin Terzic has the role for now. He started with a win in Bremen but then fell to defeat to Union Berlin before Christmas. It's too early to establish whether he might repeat the feats of Flick and go from temporary to permanent solution, but Borussia Mönchengladbach coach Marco Rose appears the favored candidate in the longer term, with RB Salzburg's Jesse Marsch also in the frame. But with both men unlikely to leave their current positions in the current campaign, BVB may have to wait. But in fifth spot, and closer to midtable than Bayern, can they afford to?
Youssoufa Moukoko: Bundesliga's youngest-ever player
