Bayern Munich confirmed their return to domestic dominance by securing their 34th league title on Sunday after rivals Bayer Leverkusen drew 2-2 at Freiburg, but rescaling the summit of German football was harder than it looked.
The Bavarians, who had won 11 consecutive Bundesliga titles in a record league run between 2013 and 2023, had seen Xabi Alonso's Bayer Leverkusen race to a domestic league and cup double last season without a single defeat in either competition. New Bayern coach Vincent Kompany had his work cut out with Bayern urgently looking for direction after a turbulent period under his predecessor Thomas Tuchel, who left the club at the end of last season.
Unlike some former Bayern coaches, including Tuchel, Kompany lacked experience coaching a big club with the former Belgium international having previously coached Anderlecht and Burnley.
Bayern bosses were prepared to take the risk and it paid off with Kompany quickly establishing control in the changing room.
Bayern were desperate for a good start in the current season in order to put an early marker down in the title race and they bagged four straight wins to kick off the campaign, before carving out a 1-1 draw against the reigning champions.
With Leverkusen no longer invincible this season and lacking last year's consistency, Bayern gradually pulled away and by the 11th matchday had a six-point advantage, having shaken off Leipzig, Eintracht Frankfurt and Borussia Dortmund as possible title rivals.
The Bavarians were lethal in attack with Jamal Musiala and Harry Kane in top form but struggled with their backline throughout the season.
A string of injuries in recent weeks that sidelined several key defenders compounded the problem and Saturday's 3-3 draw with RB Leipzig took their goals conceded tally to 32, an average of one goal per league match this season.
But Kompany's team have been lethal up front, bagging 93 goals in 32 matches.
With 24 goals, Kane was once more Bayern's guarantee in attack with the England captain looking set to become the first player in Bundesliga history to be crowned top scorer in both his first two seasons in the league.
Widely regarded as one of the greatest strikers of his generation, England's all-time top scorer and second on the all-time Premier League scorers' list, Kane had won a hatful of individual awards.
He had, however, no single team trophy to show for his efforts after 400-odd goals for clubs and country and with talk of a 'Kane title curse' developing over the years.
Kane had spent the majority of his professional career at Tottenham Hotspur, playing for the London club from 2009-2023 with some loan spells in between, prior to joining Bayern in a league record transfer worth 100 million euros ($114 million).
In England he had failed to win a trophy with Spurs, being Champions League runners-up in 2019, while also reaching consecutive finals at Euro 2020 and 2024 with the national team.
So his move to Bayern, Germany's record champions and six-time European champions, was all about finally adding trophies to his goal-scoring records and fulfilling his title-winning ambitions.
While fans were unhappy with the club's decision not to offer talisman Thomas Mueller a new contract, the 35-year-old, who will leave at the end of the season after 25 years at Bayern, did manage to reach the 500-league-match milestone before his departure.
He was only the fourth player in Bundesliga history to achieve that feat while playing for just one club and he has now extended his record-breaking haul of league titles to 13.
The Bavarians failed to get past the quarter-finals in the Champions League after their 4-3 aggregate loss to Italy's Inter Milan last month and they also lost to Leverkusen in the German Cup round of 16, leaving the league title as their only possible trophy for the season.
But they would not be denied in the league as they kept second-placed Leverkusen at bay in the final sprint to the finish line.
(FRANCE 24 with Reuters)
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