After hundreds of games, plenty of ups, downs, and shocks, the 2020/2021 Bundesliga season has come to its conclusion. And it did not disappoint. Bayern Munich ultimately went on to win the league title, but die Roten didn't have it easy, as other teams valiantly tried to prevent the Bavarian titans from making it a ninth straight trophy.
Let's have a look at what happened during the final matchday of the 2020/2021 Bundesliga season.
How the top five teams in the Bundesliga look at the end of matchday 34
With Bayern ultimately winning the league title, there was a mad scramble as the other teams battled for a spot in the Champions League. However, only three teams could join die Roten, and this is how the final standings ended up after the dust settled on matchday 34:
Who ended up winning the Torjägerkanone for the 2020/2021 season?
Not shockingly, Bayern ace Robert Lewandowski not only successfully defended his Torjägerkanone prize for the fourth straight season, but also set a new Bundesliga record. With 41 goals, the 32-year-old now has the most goals in league history for a single season campaign, and this is his 6th Torjägerkanone prize in his German top-flight career thus far:
The good, the bad, and the ugly of the 2020/2021 Bundesliga season
It's been a really entertaining 2020/2021 Bundesliga season, and the 34 matchdays went by in a flash! Here's a summary of the good, the bad, and the ugly of the latest installment of German top-flight football:
The good...
Robert Lewandowski breaks Gerd Muller's 49 year old record: We've all been waiting to see this happen at some point. Lewandowski came close last season, but was derailed by injury and suspension, so when he suffered a knee injury while on international duty with Poland, everyone was really worried that he'd come up short once again.
Fortunately, he came back fighting fit, and now not only has he broken Der Bomber's long-standing record, but now has become the first player in Bundesliga history to win four consecutive Torjägerkanone prizes. He has six overall, just one behind the seven Muller earned over his long-standing career. Will we see him add more Torjägerkanone awards to his already glittering cabinet before he hangs up his boots? That remains to be seen - provided he decides to stay in Germany and not seek other challenges elsewhere.
Hoffenheim's Andrej Kramaric flying the flag high for Croatia: Although he wasn't able to fire his side to a spot in the Europa League, Kramaric did his part to ensure his team remained afloat for the season. And in doing so, his 20 goals reached a huge milestone for his native Croatia. No Croatian player has been able to score 20 league goals in a single season in the German top flight, and there have been quite a few players from his country who've featured in the Bundesliga over the years, including Champions League winner Mario Mandzukic, who last played for AC Milan.
Matthew Hoppe makes history for the USA: On January 9th, Hoppe, then 20, netted a hat-trick as Schalke shocked Hoffenheim and German football fans to pick up a 4-0 win. In doing so, he became the first American international to score a hat-trick in the Bundesliga and ensured that die Königsblauen ended their 30 year winless streak in the league.
...the bad....
So close, yet so far for Eintracht Frankfurt: At one point, die Adler were one of the most in-form sides in the Bundesliga, along with Wolfsburg. Between December 15th and February 20th, Frankfurt went 11 games sans defeat, until they were beaten 2-1 by Werder Bremen. Unfortunately they hit a rough patch, which included a surprise 4-3 loss to an already relegated Schalke on the penultimate match day and thus ended up painfully missing out on the Champions League by just one point.
Had Adi Hutter's men been able to secure fourth, it would have marked the first ever Champions League qualification for Eintracht Frankfurt in club history.
...and the ugly
Schalke set plenty of horrible milestones this year: With just three games won, 86 goals conceded and 25 scored, it's safe to say than Schalke's season was a nightmare they'll want to forget soon. They'll be playing in the 2.Bundesliga next season, but who knows, they just may be back in the top flight sooner than fans may realize if they can get their act together. It's been a long time coming, though, from going through five different managers to never rising higher than 17th in the table, so maybe they'll have better luck the next time they're in the top flight.
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