Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski scored his 41st Bundesliga goal of the season on Saturday, breaking the record set by Gerd Mueller in 1971-72.
He achieved the milestone when he scored in the last minute of their last match of the season, a 5-2 win over Augsburg.
The Poland striker, with 277 goals, is now second on the list of all-time highest scorers in the Bundesliga, behind only Mueller's 365. Mueller set the previous record in the 1971/72 season with 40 goals, which Lewandowski equalled last week.
Lewandowski missed more than half a dozen clear scoring chances in the game and looked set to miss out on the record, with Augsburg determined not to let him add to his tally.
But the Pole was not to be denied and in the final minute, when keeper Rafal Gikiewicz spilt a Leroy Sane shot, the forward rounded the keeper to score.
With coach Hansi Flick and several players of the old guard -- Javi Martinez, David Alaba and Jerome Boateng -- bidding farewell to the club, and 250 invited fans in the 75,000-seat arena, it was an emotional afternoon for Bayern with the championship long wrapped up.
It did not take long for the host to take the lead, with Augsburg's Jeffrey Gouweleeuw stabbing the ball into his net from a Serge Gnabry cutback in the ninth minute.
Gnabry then headed in the team's second goal in the 23rd after Gikiewicz had saved a point-blank effort by Lewandowski.
A minute later Bayern keeper Manuel Neuer denied Daniel Caligiuri from the penalty spot before Joshua Kimmich launched a 20-metre missile to make it 3-0 for the host.
Kingsley Coman also got onto the scoresheet, scoring two minutes before the break, with his low crisp shot whizzing past Gikiewicz.
The visitor came to life midway through the second half, scoring twice with Andre Hahn and Florian Niederlechner. But it was Lewandowski who had the last say.
At the other end of the table, former Bundesliga champion Werder Bremen was relegated - along with already-relegated Schalke 04 - for the first time since 1980 following its 4-2 defeat to Borussia Moenchengladbach.
Cologne will go into the relegation playoffs after scoring an 86th-minute winner over Schalke.
Be Social
Comments
Leave a Comment