Lewandowski breaks Mueller’s 49-year record as Bremen relegated after four decades

Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski said it felt like being in a “science fiction film” as he scored his 41st Bundesliga goal of the season on Saturday to break Gerd Mueller’s 49-year-old German league record for a single campaign.

Lewandowski scored in the 90th minute of Bayern’s 5-2 home win over Augsburg having equalled Mueller’s record of 40, which was set in 1971/72, last weekend.

Lewandowski broke Mueller’s mark with a classic poacher’s effort, rounding the Augsburg goalkeeper to fire home having snapped up the rebound after Leroy Sane’s shot was parried just before the whistle.

“You wait for 90 minutes and then it comes in the last few seconds,” Lewandowski told Sky.

“It was like being in a science fiction film. I’ve lost my voice.

“I saw Leroy shoot for goal, I had to keep believing and luckily it came off.”

Bayern were presented with the Bundesliga trophy after the final whistle for the ninth straight season

They finished the season 13 points clear in the table.

“I was a little bit disappointed to have not scored sooner, but sometimes such records have to be fought for,” added Lewandowski.

“I was patient and believed until the end. I thank my team, who share the record with me.”

It was the last game for Bayern head coach Hansi Flick, who will be replaced by Leipzig boss Julian Nagelsmann next season having won seven titles over the last 18 months.

Union Berlin qualified for the new Europa Conference League play-offs finishing seventh in the table with a shock 2-1 win over second-placed RB Leipzig.

At the other end of the table, Werder Bremen were relegated on the last day of the season after 40 years in Germany’s top flight.

Cologne’s 1-0 home win over bottom side Schalke meant automatic relegation for Bremen.

Bremen were relegated from the Bundesliga after a 4-2 thrashing at home by Borussia Moenchengladbach.

“At the moment it’s hard to say anything,” caretaker coach Thomas Schaaf, who stepped in after Florian Kohfeldt was sacked last weekend, told Sky.

“We didn’t manage to do what we wanted to do.

“We missed the huge opportunity to equalise, which we needed. We fought back too late.”

Cologne’s 1-0 win over bottom side Schalke, who were already relegated, confirmed Bremen’s worst fears, sending them down for the first time since 1979-80, when they came back up a season later.

Bremen paid the price for taking one point from their last ten league games in Germany’s top flight, finishing 17th in the table, two points behind Cologne who have a two-legged relegation play-off next week.

A loosening of the hygiene rules in Bremen meant there were a 100 spectators in the stadium, mostly club employees, but there was near silence at the final whistle among the stunned hosts.

Bremen made the worst possible start when Gladbach captain Lars Stindl was left alone in the penalty area and fired into the bottom right corner with just three minutes gone.

Gladbach doubled their lead early in the second half when Marcus Thuram got in behind the defence and fired past Bremen goalkeeper Jiri Pavlenka.

A towering header by Ramy Bensebaini and a Florian Neuhaus goal made it 4-0 before Bremen fought back as forward Milot Rashica and Niclas Fuellkrug scored late on, but to no avail.

Agencies