Bayern Munich won a third straight Bundesliga title after Wolfsburg lost at Borussia Mönchengladbach on Sunday to leave the champions with an unassailable 15-point lead with four games left.
Bayern, who have won 25 German league titles including one before the Bundesliga’s creation in 1963, beat Hertha Berlin 1-0 on Saturday but had to put the champagne on ice until after second-placed Wolfsburg’s game on Sunday.
Gladbach’s Max Kruse scored in the 90th minute for a 1-0 victory that ended any mathematical chance of Wolfsburg catching the Bavarians. It also put second place in danger with Gladbach four points behind on 57 in third.
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The Bundesliga title is the second for Pep Guardiola in his second season as coach, and the Spaniard is chasing a repeat of the league, cup and Champions League treble they won months before he arrived in 2013.
“It is something magnificent to defend our title and I can only congratulate our coach and players,” said the Bayern CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge in a statement.
“They did it extremely well in a year after a World Cup where many of our players were competing.”
Bayern, domestic double winners last season, face Guardiola’s old club Barcelona in the Champions League semi-finals next month and take on Borussia Dortmund next week in the last four of the German Cup.
“You can compare the 25th title to a silver anniversary,” the honorary Bayern president Franz Beckenbauer said. “They played an outstanding first half of the season despite the energy-sapping World Cup. A 25th title needs special mention.”
Bayern have lost twice and conceded 13 goals in 30 matches, a record for this stage of the Bundesliga.
They took charge from the start as Borussia Dortmund, last season’s runners-up, imploded, with Wolfsburg emerging only briefly as title contenders before the gap to the top grew even more.
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