By Simon Wright – Follow me on Twitter @Siwri88
The 2015/2016 Bundesliga season was a record-breaking one
with many historic feats achieved. Newcomers shone, some of the established
diced with the drop and landmarks were often achieved on a weekly basis.
It was a familiar story at the top as FC Bayern München
claimed a fourth consecutive Bundesliga title, giving departing manager Pep
Guardiola the perfect send-off before he heads for a new challenge with
Manchester City. They were pushed all the way though by Borussia Dortmund,
whilst intriguing battles for UEFA Champions League qualification and avoiding
relegation kept the excitement going right to the final weekend.
Matchday 1
& 2: Flying starts
 |
| Bayern recovered to beat Hoffenheim despite conceding inside 10 seconds |
Under new boss Thomas Tuchel, Borussia Dortmund recorded
back-to-back 4-0 victories in the first two weeks of the campaign, whilst Kevin
de Bruyne played his final game for VfL Wolfsburg in a 1-1 draw with 1. FC
Köln. He moved to Manchester City a week later.
Matchday 3
& 4: Returning in style
Wolfsburg would replace de Bruyne with Julian Draxler on
transfer deadline day. He played his final FC Schalke 04 game at the Volkswagen
Arena days earlier, as Wolfsburg ran out comfortable 3-0 winners.
On Matchday 4, Eintracht Frankfurt’s ‘Football God’
returned. Back from a lengthy injury lay-off, skipper Alexander Meier scored
the first hat-trick of the season as Frankfurt dismantled Köln 6-2.
Fabian
Lustenberger scored a Goal of the Season contender as Hertha BSC edged out VfB
Stuttgart 2-1. It was the first league goal for the Hertha captain in nearly seven years.
Matchday 5
& 6: Lewangoalski
 |
| The scoreboard in Munich after Robert Lewandowski's record-breaking evening |
On Matchday 6, FC Bayern München were trailing 1-0 at home
to VfL Wolfsburg at half-time when Guardiola introduced Robert Lewandowski from
the bench. What happened next was simply incredible. The Pole blitzed Wolfsburg
and stunned the football world with five goals in nine breathtaking minutes,
taking three Guinness World Records in the process. Bayern won 5-1 (scoreboard pictured)!
The first managerial casualty of the campaign was at
Borussia Mönchengladbach. Lucien Favre stepped down after a 1-0 derby defeat to
Köln which left The Foals without a point from their first five matches. Andre
Schubert took over and spearheaded the club to a 4-2 triumph over FC Augsburg
for their first win of the season.
Matchday 7
& 8: Brilliant Bayern
Lewandowski followed his goalscoring brilliance against
Wolfsburg with another brace in a 3-0 away success at 1. FSV Mainz 05. A week
later saw the first ‘Der Klassiker’ meeting of the season as Borussia Dortmund
turned up at the Allianz Arena. They left with no points and a 5-1 beating
handed out by Guardiola’s invincible men.
A week earlier, Dortmund had dropped costly points at home
to newly-promoted SV Darmstadt 98. Aytac Sulu scored a stoppage time equaliser
for Darmstadt, whose 2-2 draw here showed they were adjusting well to life in
the Bundesliga.
Matchday 9
& 10: Mönchengladbach’s momentum
Borussia Dortmund’s 2-0 away success at Mainz on Matchday 9
was the first game Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang failed to find the back of the
net. Aubameyang had become the first player in Bundesliga history to score in
the first eight games of a season.
Borussia Mönchengladbach’s season continued to regain
momentum. They extended their winning run to five games under Schubert.
Eintracht Frankfurt were demolished 5-1 at home, before Schalke were beaten
3-1. That was a game overshadowed by a shocking tackle from Johannes Geis on
Andre Hahn that left the Mönchengladbach man with a broken leg.
Matchday 11
& 12: Hradecky the hero
FC Bayern München’s winning run was checked on 30th
October as Eintracht Frankfurt became the first side to stop them taking
victory. Lukas Hradecky was the hero with several massive saves on a rare
off-colour night for Bayern’s forwards.
Hat-trick heroes continued to flow in this season. The total
stood at seven after 12 matchdays. Yoshinori Muto scored a treble in Mainz’s
entertaining 3-3 draw at Augsburg, whilst Salomon Kalou scored his own
hat-trick in an impressive 3-1 victory at Hannover 96 for Hertha BSC. Pal
Dardai’s men were tipped to be relegation candidates at the season’s start but
from the outset, they were in the chase for a European spot.
Matchday 13
& 14: Horror for Hummels
Borussia Dortmund opened up Matchday 13 with a horror show
for their skipper Mats Hummels in Hamburg. They lost 3-1 and Hummels scored an own
goal. Lewis Holtby showed his influence to Hamburg with a dazzling display in
midfield.
The pressure increased on SV Werder Bremen coach Viktor
Skrypnyk who witnessed his side crumble 6-0 away to Wolfsburg which was the
biggest defeat of the season. Stuttgart lost faith in Alexander Zorniger and
gave him his marching orders after a 4-0 home defeat to Augsburg that left them
in the bottom two.
Matchday 15
& 16: The unbeaten run ends
 |
| Fabian Johnson shows his delight after scoring against the champions |
By now, there were suggestions that FC Bayern München could
go the entire season undefeated but that ended in Mönchengladbach in early
December. Schubert’s team shot Bayern down 3-1 with three goals in 14
second-half minutes (Fabian Johnson pictured celebrating). His 12-game unbeaten run as coach ended spectacularly the
following weekend with a 5-0 battering away to Bayer 04 Leverkusen. Javier
Hernandez added his name to the list of hat-trick heroes this season.
Having been bottom at the start of November, last season’s
surprise package Augsburg produced a five-game unbeaten run at the end of the
year. The highlight of this being a 2-1 victory at home to Schalke with Caiuby
scoring an injury-time winner.
Matchday 17:
Guardiola goes
Much of the talk before FC Bayern München’s trip to
relegation-threatened Hannover 96 was about the future of Pep Guardiola. Bayern
won the game 1-0, courtesy of a 40th minute goal from Thomas Müller.
24 hours later, it was confirmed Guardiola would leave at the end of the season
with Carlo Ancelotti appointed his successor. Hannover also made a change in
management with Thomas Schaaf succeeding Michael Frontzeck.
Two late goals saw Borussia Dortmund lose 2-1 to Köln and
leave them eight points behind Bayern. Hertha BSC sat third at the turn of the
year whilst Granit Xhaka collected his third red card of the season already in
Borussia Mönchengladbach’s 3-2 home victory against Darmstadt.
Matchday 18
& 19: The strugglers’ fightback
The winter break ended on 22nd January with
Bayern winning again, this time 2-1 away to a stubborn Hamburg. Matchday 18 was
a weekend where the strugglers in the table fought back.
Werder Bremen produced a clinical display to defeat
inconsistent Schalke 3-1, whilst VfB Stuttgart spoilt the carnival atmosphere
in Köln, winning by the same scoreline. Eintracht Frankfurt’s lynchpin
Alexander Meier scored his second hat-trick of the season in his side’s 3-2
home win over VfL Wolfsburg. A 2-1 home defeat though to Darmstadt suggested
Schaaf’s task to rescue Hannover was going to be extremely difficult.
Matchday 20
& 21: Stafylidis’ stunner
Augsburg might have lost 2-1 on Matchday 20 to FC Ingolstadt
04 but Konstantinos Stafylidis recorded his own contender for Goal of the
Season with an unstoppable stunner from long-range.
On the same day, both the top two teams failed to score.
Borussia Dortmund were held to a goalless stalemate by Hertha BSC whilst FC
Bayern München’s were unable to breakdown Bayer Leverkusen.
One side having a quietly effective season were Mainz.
Martin Schmidt’s team were heading towards Europe and when they beat European
rivals Schalke 2-1, it became a distinct possibility that they could steal a
Champions League place from the Bundesliga elite.
Matchday 22
& 23: Schmidt loses his cool
 |
| Felix Zwayer starts to walk off the field during the Leverkusen vs Dortmund match |
Bayer Leverkusen boss Roger Schmidt lost his cool on
Matchday 22 which led to the suspension of a Bundesliga match for the first time
in its history when the referee walked off. Dismissed for dissent after
claiming Borussia Dortmund’s winner at the BayArena shouldn’t have stood,
Schmidt refused to leave the touchline. As a result, the game was delayed for
eight minutes when match official Felix Zwayer (pictured) walked off the field.
Leverkusen’s Champions League qualification hopes looked in
tatters without Schmidt in the dugout. A 3-1 defeat to Mainz the following
weekend dropped them to 7th. Julian Nagelsmann became the youngest
coach in Bundesliga history when he became Hoffenheim’s third boss of the
season as Huub Stevens stepped down due to health reasons.
Matchday 24
& 25: Mainz stun the Allianz
FC Bayern München’s unbeaten home record was ended in early
March by a terrific team performance from Mainz. Guardiola’s side lost their
second and final match of the season in surprising fashion. Jhon Cordoba scored
the crucial goal in the 86th minute of the 2-1 victory. Borussia Dortmund cut the gap to five points with a routine
win in Darmstadt before the two giants clashed again at Signal Iduna Park. It
was a pulsating game with chances aplenty but it ended in a 0-0 draw and kept
Dortmund’s deficit at five points.
There were more hat-tricks on Matchday 24 & 25. Andre
Schürrle scored a treble in a rare Wolfsburg away win at Hannover, whilst Bayer
Leverkusen’s poor form continued as they shipped seven goals in two matches.
Six of these were to the evergreen Claudio Pizarro (SV Werder Bremen) and FC
Augsburg’s Ja-Cheol Koo.
Matchday 26
& 27: All change at Frankfurt
VfB Stuttgart stormed back on Matchday 26 from 3-1 down to
earn another point at Ingolstadt. That took Jürgen Krammy’s points total to 20
from 12 games. They would take just one more point all season in an alarming
slide down the table.
Eintracht Frankfurt parted company with Armin Veh after
drawing a week earlier with Ingolstadt. Niko Kovac took over but couldn’t stop
the Eagles losing 3-0 to home kings Borussia Mönchengladbach. But the great
escape looked on for Hoffenheim. Nagelsmann had ejected belief into his squad
and a wonderful 3-1 away victory to Hamburg took them out of the bottom two for
the first time in five months.
Matchday 28
& 29: Hannover doomed
Thomas Schaaf’s terrible spell at Hannover ended in early
April after a harrowing 3-0 home defeat to Hamburg. Relegation was now all but
inevitable for the club as they began to plan for life in 2. Bundesliga.
One team who could look forward to a second season in the
top-flight were Ingolstadt. They finished an excellent 11th in their
debut campaign and were not in any real relegation danger all season.
Back-to-back home wins over Schalke and Mönchengladbach all but ensured their
safety.
Matchday 30,
31 & 32: Bayern on the brink
A much-changed Borussia Dortmund drew 2-2 in the Revierderby
with Schalke on Matchday 29, which opened FC Bayern München’s lead to seven
points. They never looked back from that point onwards, although a home title
party was denied on Matchday 32 by Borussia Mönchengladbach. Hahn, back from
his serious injury, was party spoiler in the 1-1 draw.
In the relegation battle, VfB Stuttgart slipped into the
drop zone after a 6-2 mauling to Werder Bremen. Federico Barba produced his own
contender for bizarre own goal of the campaign.
Hannover’s relegation was
finally confirmed when Eintracht Frankfurt surprised Mainz 2-1 on Matchday 31.
Matchday 33:
It’s Bayern’s title
 |
| Bayern's players celebrate winning a fourth successive title |
FC Bayern München only needed a point to seal the title away
to Ingolstadt and whilst it wasn’t pretty, they achieved their fourth straight championship
with a 2-1 victory. Typically, it was top scorer Robert Lewandowski with the
decisive goals to ensure Guardiola leaves for England with a 100% league title
record in Germany (players celebrating pictured).
Borussia Dortmund lost to Eintracht Frankfurt, whose run of
three wins in a row meant destiny was now in their own hands in the scrap to
avoid the drop. Things looked grim for Stuttgart after a 3-1 home reverse to
Mainz with tense scenes involving fans and players afterwards. A run of seven
games without a win for Hertha BSC ensured a rejuvenated Bayer Leverkusen and
Borussia Mönchengladbach claimed the other two Champions League qualification
spots.
Matchday 34:
The end of the road for Stuttgart
On the final day of the season, attention focused on the
relegation battle. Eintracht Frankfurt needed just a draw to avoid relegation
away to Werder Bremen. It looked like they were going to do it but on-loan
Chelsea defender Papy Djilobodji scored an 88th minute winner to
ensure Bremen survived and dropped Frankfurt into the dreaded two-legged
play-off.
It was the end of the road for VfB Stuttgart. No wins since
early March and a 3-1 defeat to Wolfsburg sealed their fate. The club was
relegated for only the second time in its history and Kramny was sacked a day later.
Elsewhere, Schalke’s 4-1 away triumph at Hoffenheim ensured
a Europa League group stage spot, whilst Mainz would join them with a goalless
draw at home to Hertha BSC, who dropped to seventh with their poor run at the
season’s end.
Conclusions
It was another season of dominance from FC Bayern München.
Losing just twice and ending with a 10-point winning margin, Carlo Ancelotti
walks into a dominant team who have taken the Bundesliga by storm in the past
four seasons.
Borussia Dortmund put in a terrific season of attacking
football but it could still end with no silverware. Skipper Hummels leaves for Bayern
in the off-season and it will be interesting to see who else stays in the
Tuchel revolution.
As with every season, there are surprise packages. Mainz and
Hertha both had terrific seasons and the reward of Europa League football for
both is richly deserved. Both Ingolstadt and Darmstadt deserve credit too for
surviving with relative ease.
The biggest disappointments were Wolfsburg who fell away
from runners-up in 2014/2015 to eighth this time around and a staggering 43
points behind Bayern. Dieter Hecking will do well to stay in the job despite a
strong run to the Champions League quarter-finals. The plight of Stuttgart also
shows that no established club can rest on their laurels. It will be a long way
back for them with players having to leave and trust needing to be regained
with the fans.
It will be an interesting off-season in the Bundesliga but
2015/2016 once again belonged to one team and that was FC Bayern München.
Comments
Post a Comment