A bewitching, twisting evening, full of unpredictable turns and hitches, ended in Bayern Munich lifting their 33rd league title, one that they lost, won, lost and won again. As the Munich players, support staff and support celebrated wildly at RheinEnergieStadion, home ground of FC Koln, who they beat to the title, the Signal Iduna Park wailed, the yellow wall sighed and the giant flags with the slogan “Echte Liebe”, loosely translated as true love, swayed melancholically in the air moist with tears. When Munich winners held aloft the trophy, those of Borussia Dortmund slumped to the turf, their sweat and soil blending into the grass.
To lose in this way was tragic—they conceded two soft goals, fluffed a penalty, saw a legitimate penalty shout go unheeded, barraged the Mainz goalkeeper with a torrent of shots, and fought valiantly till the last second of the game. They could have still won but for Jamal Musiala’s 89th minute screamer—a knife that swished through the heart of Dortmund.
Yet, for all the tragic layers and hues the afternoon would acquire in Bundesliga folklore, this was an epic implosion by Dortmund. They had their fate in their own hands, found themselves back in the game with a penalty, and produced numerous chances to wrap up the game and title. But they contrived to implode, ravaged by anxiety and fear of failure. The 81,000-strong passionate supporters, not a wall, but a sea of yellow, might have suffocated than buoyed them.
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Whereas, Bayern did what Bayern habitually does in the league. That is to fight back from improbable situations. They did not let adversity derail them—a second goal was chalked off, conceded an 81st-minute penalty, but amidst all this mess, their belief in finding the winning remain undiminished. Had Dortmund netted a third, it could have been a different story, but they did what they could, that is to find the winner, from the crooked right foot of a 20-year-old wunderkind, on the field for barely a minute.
But beyond heroes and tragic-heroes, fortune and misfortune, this was about the aura and ruthlessness of Bayern. The record champions did what they could, that is to win the game and hope for a Dortmund defeat. The latter played as though they could sense sheets of tragedy drifting in the skies and ready to descend on them. There was a sense of foreboding, they were weak and nervous, letting cheap possessions and cheaper goals, bereft of fight and cohesion that mark them. In essence, they seemed like they were dueling two teams, Mainz, the real ones, and Bayern, the imagined ones, whirling and lurking in the arena. In the end, Mainz drew them, but Bayern beat them. The blazing aura of Bayern—serial title guzzlers (no other club has a double-digit league count), Europe’s elite (six Champions league crowns) and a club that emphasises on winning more than anything else. Bayern’s most obvious quality is simply that they win. Inexplicably at times, but remorselessly.
This one feels GOOD! 🙌🏆#MiaSanMeister pic.twitter.com/HpwiCrA7j8
— FC Bayern Munich (@FCBayernEN) May 27, 2023
In a sense, Bayern and Dortmund are at the opposite end of the football spectrum. Bayern are not scary spenders, but manage to pluck fine talents from elsewhere (mostly from Dortmund), whereas Dortmund is a platform-club, one that unearths fine talents from the world, groom them and sell them (players and now managers too). If Bayern are into the business of winning titles, Dortmund are into the business of spinning revenue from player sales. It’s the reason, they largely end up as challengers and not winners. It’s a working-class club that has assumed a corporate character. Perhaps, the penury of the aughts, where the club was near bankrupt, still haunts them.
Perhaps, had it not been Bayern chasing them, but some other club, Dortmund might not have blinked. A parallel could be drawn with how the title race unfolded in England. For as many as 248 days, Arsenal topped the league, then in the final stretch, Manchester City streamed away with the title. In the home stretch, they too were playing two teams in one game, City roving stealthily behind them. Football, thus, is as psychological a game as it is one of physique and skill.
🎶 𝙒𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙢𝙥𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨! 🎶#MiaSanMeister pic.twitter.com/nHd2lgSrS5
— FC Bayern Munich (@FCBayernEN) May 27, 2023
It’s the hallmark of all great teams. They impose themselves psychologically, There is no better example of this than Real Madrid when they play in Europe. There is a hubristic sense of entitlement, an unflinching belief that no one can beat them in a final. Their arch-rival Atletico were on the brink of defeating them in the 2013-14 edition, only for a 93rd minute header from Sergio Ramos to rescue them and stretch the game to extra time, whereupon Madrid won 4-1.
♾️ „Und wir werden immer Borussen sein, es gibt nie nie nie einen anderen Verein…“ pic.twitter.com/1CQe0Me6a2
— Borussia Dortmund (@BVB) May 27, 2023
This is true in every sport. No matter how good you really are, you freeze when you meet an adversary of a more sparkling legacy. Andy Murray would confess how Roger Federer would beat him even before the first serve was served.
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History and legacy could often weigh a team down, but in big moments, big games, the legacy and history crush the challengers, as Dortmund tragically grasped. You could empathise with Dortmund, just as you could marvel at Bayern’s knack of winning titles, from nowhere and everywhere.
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It would be easy to assume that Bayern’s titles do not stand for something more, do not represent some greater truth, not victories for a belief or a system. They are simply victories for Bayern. Perhaps, that is all that they care about. And it could be how the wildest evening in German football would be remembered—the serial winners won. And it was not just the visible adversaries Mainz they had to beat for the title but the unseen though omniscient Bayern too.
