Jurgen Klopp masterminded Borussia Dortmund’s second Bundesliga title in two years, setting a brand new document for many factors in a single season as BVB had been champions on 81 factors.
Jupp Heynckes returned to Bayern Munich for his third spell in cost, however might solely end in second, eight factors behind Dortmund. Schalke boss Ralf Rangnick stepped down early within the season citing exhaustion, and was changed by Rodolfo Cardoso who guided them to 3rd.
An enchancment in Germany’s European coefficient noticed an additional staff qualify for the Champions League, that means fourth-placed Borussia Monchengladbach certified into the play-off spherical, with Bayer Leverkusen, Stuttgart, and Hannover all progressing to the Europa League.
Cologne and Kaiserslautern had been each relegated, whereas Hertha Berlin went again down through the playoffs only one season after developing.
CHANGES
Heynckes was appointed Bayern Munich head coach, and was pressured to publicly again new signing Manuel Neuer after the followers protested the membership’s €22 million buy of the goalkeeper from rivals Schalke.
Defenders Rafinha and Jerome Boateng had been signed from Genoa and Manchester Metropolis respectively, whereas Nils Petersen scored a hat-trick on his pleasant debut however was much less spectacular within the Bundesliga, registering simply two targets in 9 video games through the season.
Miroslav Klose moved to Lazio on a free switch, leaving Mario Gomez as Bayern’s clear first-choice striker. Hamit Altintop joined Actual Madrid on the finish of his contract, whereas Thomas Kraft and Andreas Ottl each moved to recently-promoted Hertha Berlin.
Klopp added additional energy in midfield at Borussia Dortmund, spending €5.5m every on Ilkay Gundogan and Ivan Perisic, with the previous changing Actual Madrid-bound Nuri Sahin within the centre of the pitch.
Having retired from taking part in, Sami Hyypia grew to become an assistant supervisor with the Finland nationwide setup, however was again within the Leverkusen dugout by April because the board misplaced religion in Heynckes’ substitute Robin Dutt.
Per Mertesacker’s transfer to Arsenal noticed Clemens Fritz appointed as new Werder Bremen captain. Defender Sokratis joined on mortgage, with Zlatko Junuzovic transferring from Austria Vienna for €800k.
Leverkusen signed two of essentially the most promising younger gamers within the league, however needed to pay over €15m in whole so as to add Andre Schurrle and Bernd Leno. Defender Omer Toprak was additionally a €3m signing from Freiburg. Nevertheless, they misplaced midfielder Arturo Vidal to Serie A, as Juventus signed the Chilean for €12.5m.
Freiburg offered their prime scorer Papiss Cisse to Newcastle for €12m, whereas Hamburg determined to money in on the irritating Eljero Elia (€9m to Juventus). Wolfsburg had been among the many large spenders, including Christian Trasch (€9m), Ricardo Rodriguez (€8.5m), and Giovanni Sio (€5.8m).
SUMMARY
Champions Borussia Dortmund picked up the place they left off, beating Hamburg 3-1 on the opening day of the season to set their path to a second successive Bundesliga title. Nevertheless, after six video games, it regarded as if Klopp’s aspect may not problem on the prime, sitting in eleventh thanks to a few defeats of their opening fixtures.
The two-1 loss to Hannover on Matchday six was the final time Dortmund misplaced a league sport all season, they usually led the league after 20 video games till the top of the marketing campaign, choosing up 81 factors to set a brand new Bundesliga document.
After a sluggish begin in his earlier season, ahead Robert Lewandowski grew to become Dortmund’s star participant, ending with 22 Bundesliga targets, and 30 in all competitions. He was supported by Shinji Kagawa, who scored 12 league targets from attacking midfield, whereas Croatian midfielder Perisic settled effectively at his new membership.
Heynckes’ return to Bayern Munich was not as profitable as hoped, however he did information them to a second-placed end and the Champions League closing, with striker Mario Gomez ending second to Klaas-Jan Huntelaar within the race for the Torjagerkanone.
Huntelaar’s 29 targets propelled Schalke to 3rd within the desk, whereas Borussia Monchengladbach secured Germany’s extra Champions League spot for 2011-12 by coming fourth. Gladbach had prevented relegation through the play-off the earlier season, however coach Lucien Favre’s slick counter-attacking aspect carried out excellently to get into Europe.
Bayer Leverkusen, Stuttgart, and Hannover by no means actually challenged the league leaders, however all completed within the prime seven to qualify for the Europa League. Leverkusen had hoped to return to the Champions League, and consequently sacked supervisor Dutt and changed him with former defender Sami Hyypia earlier than the top of the marketing campaign.
Cologne and Kaiserslautern each modified their managers within the latter-half of the season, however the appointments of Frank Schaefer and Krasimir Balakov respectively couldn’t save them from relegation.
Fan bother marred the relegation play-off, which noticed Hertha Berlin relegated because of a 4-3 mixture defeat to Fortuna Dusseldorf. The second leg was delayed after fireworks the place thrown onto the pitch, whereas referee Wolfgang Stark filed a legal grievance towards Hertha midfielder Lewan Kobiascwili for assaulting him after the sport.
PLAYER OF THE SEASON
SHINJI KAGAWA
The Japanese attacking midfielder scored eight occasions in his first season in Germany, however elevated this to 13 league targets and 9 assists as he helped Borussia Dortmund to a different Bundesliga title.
MANAGER OF THE SEASON
JURGEN KLOPP
Borussia Dortmund set the league document for essentially the most factors in a season (81) with Klopp’s aspect dominant at each ends of the pitch, scoring 80 targets and conceding simply 25.
TOP GOALSCORER
KLAAS-JAN HUNTELAAR – 29 GOALS
Schalke’s prime scorer grew to become the primary Dutch participant to elevate the Torjagerkanone because of 29 targets in 32 appearances – three greater than Bayern’s Mario Gomez.
TEAM OF THE SEASON
NEUER; DANTE, HUMMELS, BADSTUBER; REUS, GUNDOGAN, KAGAWA, KROOS, RIBERY; GOMEZ, HUNTELAAR
MOST EXPENSIVE TRANSFER
Manuel Neuer
Schalke to Bayern
€22m
KEY MOMENT OF THE SEASON
Borussia Dortmund anticipated to seek out it troublesome to defend their title, and after a sluggish begin, wanted to show themselves worthy once more. A visit to the Allianz Enviornment on Matchday 11 noticed BVB come away with three factors because of an instinctive end from 19-year-old Mario Gotze. This ended Bayern’s successful run, and put Dortmund inside two factors of their championship rivals.
