'Ghost champion' Bayern left basking in an eerie afterglow

For the eighth straight year, Bayern Munich's players celebrated winning the Bundesliga title.

This celebration, though, was unlike any of the previous seven.

The players' cheers echoed around an empty stadium after a Robert Lewandowski strike earned a 1-0 win at Werder Bremen on Tuesday to secure the title with two rounds to go.

German media have dubbed the team the "Geister-Meister"－the ghost champion.

With no fans in the stands because of the coronavirus pandemic, it was a subdued and strange display of emotions as the players put on commemorative T-shirts and waved to their absent supporters.

"Celebrating without the fans is a bit complicated," Lewandowski told broadcaster Sky. "The atmosphere is missing and something else, not the motivation, but the passion from the fans.

"We are still very satisfied. It was not an easy season, we fought for the title for a long time. I hope that we can celebrate with the fans in the stadium soon."

The game which secured the title was anything but typical Bayern, which has made a habit of exuberant, high-scoring wins.

Bayern now has 30 top-flight German titles and Lewandowski added: "We have showed that we are the best team in Germany."

Lewandowski struck two minutes before the break with a brilliant low strike after controlling the ball on his chest, but Bayern endured a nervy final 11 minutes after teenage leftback Alphonso Davies was sent off for a second yellow card.

At the end of a first half dominated by Bremen's dogged defending and pouring rain, Bayern broke through when centerback Jerome Boateng chipped over the top for Lewandowski to score.

It was the Poland striker's 31st league goal of the season, a career best, keeping him on course to be named the league's top scorer for the fifth time.

Head coach Hansi Flick landed the Bundesliga title in his first season in charge having stepped in when Niko Kovac was fired last November.

Even the coronavirus lockdown could not stop Bayern's momentum, with the champion winning eight consecutive games in all competitions since the resumption of German soccer last month.

Flick, assistant coach when Germany won the 2014 World Cup, could land the treble as Bayern faces Bayer Leverkusen in the German Cup final on July 4.

Bayern holds a 3-0 first-leg lead over Chelsea in the Champions League.

"This is Bayern Munich, the goals are always high," said Flick after club president Hainer Herbert had said the treble is now the goal.

"We have reached our first big goal, the cup is now the next goal, then the Champions League, but you can't plan for that."

Under normal circumstances, the return leg of the last-16 tie against Chelsea would be played in Munich, but the venue and date of that game remain unclear after UEFA this week confirmed Lisbon as the host of matches from the quarterfinals onwards.

"We've got enough time to get ready for it," Lewandowski said of the August mini-tournament in the Portuguese capital.

Germany's relatively early finish is likely to leave Bayern a month without competitive games after the German Cup final.

The home defeat means Bremen, which is three points from guaranteed safety with two games left, badly needs a result at fellow struggler Mainz on Saturday or at home to Cologne on the final day of the season.

This was Bayern's 13th straight win in Bremen, but Florian Kohfeldt's host worked tirelessly.

Having given Bayern the lead, Lewandowski went chasing a second and had the ball in the net in the 54th minute but was flagged offside.

Canadian leftback Davies showed a lightning pair of heels by clocking 36.51 kilometers per hour, which will be a Bundesliga record if the speed is confirmed, before his late dismissal.

Having been shown a first-half yellow card for a foul on Leonardo Bittencourt, Davies was booked again for blocking the run of Milos Veljkovic.

Bremen piled on the pressure in the final 10 minutes, with Boateng doing excellently to prevent a late cross from reaching Josh Sargent.

Kohfeldt threw on strikers Niclas Fuellkrug and 41-year-old Claudio Pizarro, against his former club.

Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer pulled off a stunning fingertip save in the 90th minute to deny Japan forward Yuya Osako, with Pizarro sliding in searching for a tap-in, as Bayern held on.

Mueller record

Club stalwart Thomas Mueller has now equaled the league record of former Bayern great Franck Ribery with his ninth Bundesliga title.

Mueller was endeavoring not to let coronavirus restrictions dampen his joy.

"We will devote ourselves to the evening in compliance with the rules and let the emotions run wild for the time being," said the striker.

"During the coronavirus period, everyone has to have a single table, but we will not necessarily give up.

"You can still lift a glass two meters away with a little distance."

Bayern is planning a team party but can't invite players' families because of coronavirus restrictions, chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said.

Flick has coached Bayern to 26 wins from 29 games in all competitions since he took over in November after Kovac's reign ended following a 5-1 loss at Eintracht Frankfurt.

Bayern was fourth in the table when Flick took over, but he marked his Bundesliga debut in the dugout with a 4-0 thumping of then-title rival Borussia Dortmund.

"When Hansi took over the helm, he quickly got the ship going again," Rummenigge said.

Flick started out as an interim coach but was given an extension to 2023 in April.

Bayern hasn't lost a competitive game since Dec 7 and has only dropped points once in 2020, in a goalless draw with RB Leipzig in February.

Agencies Via Xinhua