SoccerBlogs

Lukas Podolski joins Arsenal, Marko Marin joins Chelsea, Shinji Kagawa doesn't yet join Manchester United and Lucas Barrios ends up in China. There's quite a bit more movement on the transfer market already, than in the Bundesliga table. But here is what happened anyway.

There are many ways to say Auf Wiedersehen.

Dortmund's title win was finally made official. And while the pundits discuss, whether we are looking at a dynasty in the making, elsewhere clubs compete for the right or burden to play two extra matches.

Dortmund are deserved winners.
In a matter of eleven days, Dortmund have now beaten the second, third and fourth placed teams in the Bundesliga.

Dortmund are champions. Kaiserlautern are relegated. Both just awaiting official confirmation. But still plenty to play for in between the top and bottom.

A good bench is a sign of continuity.
Bayern Munich's ambitions to beat Mainz at any cost with a make-shift squad was greatly diminished by Dortmund's win over Schalke earlier.

Time to sift through the aftermath of that game between Dortmund and Bayern. And since the other 16 teams in the league decided to do nothing particularly unexpected, it'll be in a bit more detail.

The title hasn't been decided yet, but the near future.
Dortmund have apparently been handed the title already by pretty much everybody, who has anything to say about football.

Sorry for my recent absence. Been moving places. Little time to catch up with Bundesliga footy. Luckily, next to nothing has been decided in the meantime except for Kaiserslautern's relegation, which is a mere mathematical formality now. In fact, things have been opening up quite a bit most promisingly, at the very top.

On August 24th, 1963, 17 minutes into the first matchday of the inaugural Bundesliga season, 1860 Munich striker Rudolf Brunnenmeier nutmegged Eintracht Braunschweig keeper Hans Jäcker to give his side a 1-0 lead. It was 1860 Munich's first ever Bundesliga goal. It was the first Bundesliga goal that was caught on camera.

Markus Babbel is a welcome guest in Munich. Markus Babbel is a young promising Bundesliga coach, who has done reasonably well at his clubs so far. That is, as long as he doesn't have to pay a visit to his former club. His Hertha side conceded three goals in 13 minutes earlier this season.

The title race has turned into a title procession. Just a couple of weeks ago, we could gloat over the most fascinating Bundesliga title race in recent years. Now we have to conclude that Borussia Dortmund are simply far too consistent and everybody else, well, is not. Dortmund went seven points clear at the top, with a confident win over Mainz, that only briefly like two minutes looked to be in doubt.

Dortmund have the right backups for a successful title defense. Dortmund had already benefitted from Robert Lewandowski's and Felipe Santana's breakthrough performances in the absence of Lucas Barrios and Neven Subotic in the Hinrunde. Now, they benefit from Shinji Kagawa's and Kuba's excellent form, in the absence of Mario Götze.

Impressions are still fresh, which makes it easier to indulge in hyperbole, but during the first 45 minutes against Schalke, Gladbach delivered some of the finest team football the Bundesliga has seen this season. On top, there was a goal for every personal preference in football artistry anyone could have: a great individual goal by Marco Reus, an even greater team goal finished off by Mike Hanke and a beautiful goal from a free kick by Juan Arango.

The big freeze produced one big winner. Germany's winter so far: a mild December was followed by a warm January was followed by a frigging cold February. It's probably some strange global warming phenomenon again, or 2012, or... It meant that matchday 20 took place under arctic circumstances.

Raul → Draxler → Raul → Huntelaar → Draxler → Goal.

This is one of the better team goals you'll see this season. And what makes it even more remarkable, is the small fact, that it was scored by a team coached by all things defense expert Huub Stevens.

Na tactics can compensate for individual mistakes. Bayern's 3-0 win over Cologne was rich in absurdity. Ribery blew a fuse. The match ball blew out. Cologne blew a one man advantage. You could add Solbakken's one-off idea to bring back the five man backline to this list. Except, that it actually worked out pretty well to frustrate Bayern most of the time.