Bayern Munich is on the verge of capturing its 22nd Bundesliga
title after Thomas Mueller scored a hat trick in a 3-1 win over
Bochum on Saturday.
Schalke lost 2-0 at home to Werder Bremen, leaving Bayern
three points clear ahead of the final round with a superior goal
difference of 17. Bayern travels to relegated Hertha Berlin and
Schalke is at Mainz next week.
The 20-year-old Mueller has been the revelation of the season
after being used in several positions.
"It's a fantastic feeling. We've achieved what we've worked
for all season," Mueller said. "My first season and my first
championship - it's as good as it gets. We've gotten what we wanted
the most and now we can go after more."
Bayern is in the final of the Champions League and the German
Cup and can achieve a treble in coach Louis van Gaal's first
season.
"It gives my players a lot of confidence and now we have two
weeks to prepare, and we can do even better," Van Gaal said.
Hertha Berlin drew 1-1 at Bayer Leverkusen but was relegated
only one season after finishing fourth. Berlin will be the only
major European capital without a top-division club.
Despite the loss, Schalke is sure of playing in the Champions
League next season. Werder has a two-point edge over Leverkusen in
third, which brings Champions League qualifying.
Hannover thrashed Borussia Moenchengladbach 6-1 to move out
of the drop zone. Hannover plays Bochum in the final round and has
30 points, two more than Bochum and Nuremberg, which lost 4-0 at
Hamburg. Hertha is already demoted with 24 points.
In Munich, the sellout crowd of 69,000 began celebrating the
title long before the final whistle after learning that Schalke was
losing at home.
"It's something special for me to win my first title at 35,"
Bayern goalkeeper Joerg Butt said. "It's been an incredible season
and it's not over yet."
Mueller capped Bayern's early dominance, sending the ball
into the net with his chest after a low cross from Philipp Lahm in
the 18th minute.
Two minutes later, Mueller doubled the lead. Lahm passed
across the goal to Franck Ribery, who volleyed the ball back into
the area for a running Mueller to head under the crossbar.
Mueller hit the post in the 54th before completing his hat
trick in the 69th, charging past two defenders to score his 13th
goal of the season.
Christian Fuchs's free kick in the 85th gave Bochum its goal.
Bochum fired Heiko Herrlich on Thursday and appointed its former
player Dariusz Wosz as interim coach, but the team extended its
winless run to 11 games. It has lost eight of its last nine
matches.
Schalke had an appeal for a penalty denied shortly before
halftime and Kevin Kuranyi later hit the crossbar. But Werder
struck after the break with goals from Mesut Oezil and Hugo Almeida
to dash Schalke's hopes of winning its first championship in 52
years.
Schalke coach Felix Magath congratulated Bayern on a "well
deserved championship," but complained that some refereeing
decisions had gone against his team.
The home crowd gave Magath a standing ovation despite the
loss.
"It's sensational, I've never experienced anything like
this," Magath said. "We'll keep working on it."
"We've had some bad luck. We didn't get a clear penalty and
it was the decisive moment of the game. It was 0-0 and shortly
before halftime," Magath said.
Manuel Friedrich's header sealed the fate of Hertha, which
had led after an early goal by Raffael and wasted several good
chances.
Dortmund ruined its hopes of clinching third place by drawing
1-1 with Wolfsburg. Edin Dzeko scored for Wolfsburg but Marco
Stiepermann salvaged the draw with a late goal. Wolfsburg
goalkeeper Diego Benaglio saved a penalty by Nuri Sahin.
Ciprian Marica scored in the 73rd and 75th minutes as
Stuttgart came back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 at home with Mainz.
Substitute Prince Tagoe scored two late goals in Hoffenheim's
come-from-behind 2-1 win at Eintracht Frankfurt.
Zoran Tosic had a goal and an assist for Cologne, but
Mohamadou Idrissou scored twice for Freiburg in a 2-2 draw that
lifted all relegation worries for his team.
Mladen Petric scored twice for Hamburg against hapless
Nuremberg, which travels to Cologne in the final round in 16th
place. If it finishes in that spot,the team will playoff against
the third-place side from the second division to reach the top tier
next season.
