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Jurgen Klopp masterminded Borussia Dortmund’s second Bundesliga title in two years, setting a new record for most points in a single season as BVB were champions on 81 points.
Jupp Heynckes returned to Bayern Munich for his third spell in charge, but could only finish in second, eight points behind Dortmund. Schalke boss Ralf Rangnick stepped down early in the season citing exhaustion, and was replaced by Rodolfo Cardoso who guided them to third.
An improvement in Germany’s European coefficient saw an extra team qualify for the Champions League, meaning fourth-placed Borussia Monchengladbach qualified into the play-off round, with Bayer Leverkusen, Stuttgart, and Hannover all progressing to the Europa League.
Cologne and Kaiserslautern were both relegated, while Hertha Berlin went back down via the playoffs just one season after coming up.
CHANGES
Heynckes was appointed Bayern Munich head coach, and was forced to publicly back new signing Manuel Neuer after the fans protested the club’s €22 million purchase of the goalkeeper from rivals Schalke.
Defenders Rafinha and Jerome Boateng were signed from Genoa and Manchester City respectively, while Nils Petersen scored a hat-trick on his friendly debut but was less impressive in the Bundesliga, registering just two goals in nine games during the season.
Miroslav Klose moved to Lazio on a free transfer, leaving Mario Gomez as Bayern’s clear first-choice striker. Hamit Altintop joined Real Madrid at the end of his contract, while Thomas Kraft and Andreas Ottl both moved to recently-promoted Hertha Berlin.
Klopp added extra strength in midfield at Borussia Dortmund, spending €5.5m each on Ilkay Gundogan and Ivan Perisic, with the former replacing Real Madrid-bound Nuri Sahin in the centre of the pitch.
Having retired from playing, Sami Hyypia became an assistant manager with the Finland national setup, but was back in the Leverkusen dugout by April as the board lost faith in Heynckes’ replacement Robin Dutt.
Per…
Source link : https://www.footballcritic.com/season-reviews/dortmund-successfully-defend-title-with-record-points-haul-bundesliga-in-2011-12/121
Author : [email protected] (Martin Macdonald)
Publish date : 2024-08-01 16:00:00
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