Thomas Tuchel, the manager of Bayern Munich, declared that the Bundesliga title race has concluded with seven games remaining after his team suffered a 2-0 home defeat to Borussia Dortmund.
Karim Adeyemi and Julian Ryerson scored the goals to secure Dortmund’s first Der Klassiker victory since 2019.
Following the loss, Bayern finds themselves 13 points adrift of league leaders Bayer Leverkusen, who secured a victory against Hoffenheim earlier on Saturday.
When questioned about Bayern’s chances in the title race, Tuchel, who is set to depart, unequivocally stated, “Obviously, yes.”
He added: “After today’s game there is no more need to count points. How many is it now? Congratulations to Leverkusen.”
Leverkusen manager Xabi Alonso has confirmed he will stay at the club next season, ending speculation he could succeed Tuchel at Bayern or join Liverpool.
The Spaniard looks set to lead Leverkusen to a first league title, with the club needing just three wins from seven remaining games to stop Bayern winning a 12th consecutive Bundesliga.
Dortmund’s win – their first at Bayern in 10 years – has boosted their chances of a top-four finish and they are now three points clear of fifth-placed RB Leipzig.
Kane draws blank on injury return
Following his impressive hat-trick performance in November’s 4-1 victory over Dortmund, expectations were high for Harry Kane in the 135th edition of Der Klassiker.
The England captain, who transferred from Tottenham to Bayern in the summer, currently leads the Bundesliga’s scoring charts with 31 goals this season.
Despite having missed England’s recent friendlies due to an ankle injury, Kane was deemed fit to start. However, he squandered two close-range headers in the first half that should have found the back of the net.
It was Dortmund who broke the deadlock first, with Adeyemi capitalizing on a pass from Julian Brandt to outpace Matthijs de Ligt and beat Sven Ulreich.
Although Eric Dier came close to equalizing for Bayern before halftime, his attempt was thwarted by Mats Hummels, who delivered an outstanding performance against his former team.
As Bayern pressed for an equalizer, they left space for Edin Terzic’s side to counter-attack, resulting in Norwegian full-back Ryerson finding himself in ample space to calmly slot home a finish across Ulreich.
While Kane had a relatively quiet second half, he thought he had scored with a header from Noussair Mazraoui’s cross in the 89th minute, only for a Video Assistant Referee review to confirm he was marginally offside.