The Season that Redeemed Bayern Munich

The season did not start well and what happened in the transfer market fueled the skeptics.

Borussia Dortmund, on paper, the main competitor of Bayern, had made an offensive with the arrival of Julian Brandt, Thorgan Hazard, and Mats Hummels, who had left the Bavarian club.

Bayern had signed two defenders, Lucas Hernandez and Benjamin Pavard - which had precipitated Hummels' departure - and two promising talents, Michaël Cuisance and Fiete Arp, and at the last minute, had signed Ivan Perisic and Philippe Coutinho on loan.

According to most, it was not enough to compensate for the departures of Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery. Moreover, the cost of Hernandez's transfer, 80 million euros for an injured player, also caused a lot of skepticism.

The first part of the season seemed to prove the skeptics right. In the tenth matchday, Bayern suffered a 5-1 defeat against Eintracht Frankfurt, which led to the dismissal of Niko Kovac.

Flick then took over as interim coach, and the team reacted strongly by defeating Dortmund 4-0 in the next match.

The second victory of the Flick era in the Bundesliga was against Fortuna Düsseldorf, winning 0-4 on their turf.

However, two consecutive losses followed, against Bayer Leverkusen and the then-leader Borussia Monchengladbach, which made people think that the so-called Flick effect had vanished.

Bayern then dropped to seventh place, their worst ranking throughout the season, with seven points less than Gladbach.

It was said that rivals had lost respect for Bayern and that - despite the signs of recovery with Flick - the heavy defeat against Eintracht was still affecting the team.

However, despite the defeats, it became clear that Flick had managed to unite the team again.

Furthermore, he made Thomas Müller one of the engines of the team from midfield again and made some crucial decisions, such as moving Joshua Kimmich to the center of the field or converting Alphonso Davies into a left-back.

Afterward, Bayern did not lose again, only dropping points in a goalless draw against Leipzig when they were already the leaders, and with each victory, they closed the gap.

At the end of the first half of the season, with the summer break approaching, RB Leipzig was in the lead with a four-point advantage over Bayern. Gladbach was second and Dortmund fourth.

In the second half, both Leipzig and Gladbach had a significant drop in form, and the title race turned into a battle between Bayern and Dortmund.

Bayern took the lead with 14 matchdays remaining in the Bundesliga and never let it slip away.

The forced break due to the coronavirus pandemic did not affect the Bavarians either. After the return, they continued to win all their matches.

Any remaining doubts were dispelled when, in an away match against Dortmund, who were four points behind, Bayern won 0-1, with a superb goal by Joshua Kimmich.

After that victory, Bayern was not yet mathematically the champions, but the seven-point lead made it highly unlikely for the title race to be reopened.

Everything was sealed against Bremen. Now, Flick's Bayern has the German Cup final, which will be played on July 4th against Leverkusen, and the remaining matches in the Champions League, in which they have won every game this season.