As Bayern Munich secured his eighth consecutive Bundesliga title and 29th overall win away from relegation-threatened Werder Bremen, despite Alphonso Davies being sent off, Robert Lewandowski scored his season’s 31st Bundesliga goal.
Title rivals of yesteryear, Bremen and Bayern went into the contest poles apart, in the pre-Matchday 32 standings. While Bayern needed a victory to hold the title in Munich for another year Bremen knew a good result would lift them into the relegation play-off spot out of the automatic drop zone. Werder fired off the first shot of note when Maximilian Eggestein fizzed a wide-ranging effort before Jerome Boateng chanced his arm with a fierce strike that Jiri Pavlenka did well in sopping conditions to hold on to.
Late in a tight first half, Boateng turned provider with an intuitive chipped pass into Lewandowski’s box. As Bayern went in at break 1-0 to the good after a short VAR analysis, the Poland striker managed his chest and fired past Pavlenka on the stretch.
Leon Goretzka threatened a second within moments of restarting Bayern went up a gear and Nerves settled, as Thomas Müller. Bremen’s backline did sufficient to ward off the threat, but in the 55th minute when Lewandowski turned in Joshua Kimmich’s cross, the Green-Whites were liable to the offside flag of the linesman, only for the goal to be ruled out in the build-up for an offside decision against Müller.
As Lewandowski failed to get into the six-yard box into contact with Müller’s come-and-get-me ball, Werder sailed far too close to the wind for comfort but was given a lifeline when Davies was sent off for a second yellow card.
In the closing stages, the hosts threw everything at Bayern-including Josh Sargent and Claudio Pizarro-and may have had something out of the game but for Manuel Neuer’s flying save denying the flicked header from Yuya Osako.
While Bayern champions have an unassailable 10-point lead at the top with two games to spare, the result leaves Bremen second on goal difference from the bottom.
Werder 0 – 1 Bayern Munich
Goals: 0-1 Lewandowski (43′)
Yellow card: Eggstein 56′, Langkamp 88′, Kimmich 89′
Red card: Davies (79′)
Bremen: Pavlenka – Gebre Selassie, Veljkovic (Pizarro 88′), Moisander (c), Friedl – M. Eggestein, Vogt (Langkamp 46′), Klaassen (Füllkrug 84′) – Bittencourt (Sargent 62′), Osako, Rashica (Bartels 62′)Bayern: Neuer (c) – Pavard, Boateng, Alaba, Davies – Kimmich, Goretzka – Gnabry (Hernandez 81′), Müller, Coman – Lewandowski
