With a 20-point lead and eight games remaining, Bayern Munich could clinch a 22nd Bundesliga crown this weekend if they beat Hamburg nd champions Borussia Dortmund fail to win at Stuttgart.
Even though the title will be the first trophy that Bayern has won since 2010, there will be few celebrations as Bayern have bigger trophies on their mind.
“We will quickly get together, then we will go straight home and from Sunday we will only be thinking about Juve,” Bayern CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said of the team’s planned post-match celebrations should they claim the title.
“There will not even be a dinner.”
Bayern take on Italy’s Juventus in the Champions League quarter-finals next week and having lost two Champions League finals in the past three seasons, this is the trophy that they want most of all. It grates on Bayern’s players and fans that they have not won the Champions League in over a decade (since 2001). For a club the size of Bayern, that is not good enough.
“I would not mind being crowned Bundesliga champions in our home stadium but we will not be celebrating a lot,” midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger said.
“Everyone has a target in front of their eyes and that is to perform well on Tuesday (against Juventus) so that is why there will not be much celebrating,” he added.
“We have not won a title in two years and we are just about to do it, so that would give us a really good push.”
Forward Mario Gomez should be fit in time for Saturday’s late game after overcoming a minor muscle injury that saw him miss Germany’s World Cup qualifying double-header against Kazakhstan on Friday and Tuesday.
Whether it will be business as usual for Bayern, who have won 22 of their 26 games, remains to be seen with Hamburg, in eighth place, looking to secure a European spot and having playmaker Rafael van der Vaart in great form.
“He is currently superb,” Hamburg coach Thorsten Fink told reporters on Wednesday. “His two goals for Netherlands a few days ago have certainly boosted his confidence.”
Fellow Champions League competitors Dortmund, eager to hold on to second spot, are also on a good run, with Marco Reus (two), Ilkay Guedogan and Mario Goetze scoring all of Germany’s goals in the 4-1 win over the Kazakhs on Tuesday.
Third-placed Bayer Leverkusen, four points off Dortmund and also in the hunt for a Champions League spot, travel to Fortuna Dusseldorf.
