Schalke’s win over Freiburg Saturday forced a shift in Bayern Munich’s title party despite Bayern’s 6-0 demolition of Borussia Dortmund.
Bayern Munich will have to wait to celebrate their sixth successive Bundesliga title triumph following Schalke’s 2-0 victory over 10-man Freiburg.
Jupp Heynckes’ side could have confirmed their crown with a win against rivals Borussia Dortmund on Saturday, but only if second-placed Schalke dropped points in their earlier clash with Freiburg.
However, second-half goals from Daniel Caligiuri and Guido Burgstaller, which came either side of Nils Petersen’s red card, handed Domenico Tedesco’s side the points at VELTINS-Arena.
Schalke’s victory has ensured that Bayern’s wait will go on until at least next week, when they face Augsburg away, where a title-clinching performance would extend their 18-year wait to clinch the title in a home game.
Bayern were in a killer mood on Saturday making the tie against Dortmund look like a tea party.
Bayern Munich scored five first-half goals at the Allianz Arena.
Robert Lewandowski opened the scoring five minutes in and went on to score a hat-trick, while James Rodriguez, Thomas Muller and Franck Ribery also registered for a rampant Bayern.
Top scorer Lewandowski was played in on goal by Muller and made no mistake by smashing the ball past Roman Burki, who would pick the ball out of his net a further four times over the next 40 minutes.
Ribery had a goal ruled out by VAR moments later but it did not take long for a legitimate second to follow, as David Alaba and Rodriguez exchanged passes for the latter to slot past Burki.
Dortmund enjoyed a bright spell as they attempted to reduce the arrears, seeing Christian Pulisic come close when getting a shot on target for Sven Ulreich to keep out.
A third Bayern soon arrived; however, with Rodriguez chipping an inviting cross into the middle for Muller to volley home after Gonzalo Castro gave away possession in midfield.
A frustrating evening for Michy Batshuayi was summed up when a ball towards him in the middle was slightly overhit, and Bayern were not in a forgiving mood as they went on to bag a sixth.
Lewandowski was given the chance to complete his treble, this time making the most of the time and space afforded to him by tapping the ball over the line from a Joshua Kimmich cutback, putting Bayern on the brink of yet another title.