Werder Bremen’s Diego celebrates with goalscorer Claudio Pizarro. Photograph: David Hecker/AFP/Getty Images
They were divided, dejected, dismal. They were headed for mediocrity, perhaps even relegation. They were one, maybe two defeats away from getting shot of Thomas Schaaf and facing up to the most traumatic event in the club’s history since Otto Rehhagel defected to [...]

Franck Ribery and Luca Toni celebrate their one-two in the only awards that matter. Photograph: Oliver Lang AFP/Getty Images
Bayern Munich’s fourth-place finish in 2007 was always going to be bad news for the rest of the Bundesliga. General manager Uli Hoeness had an epiphany, suddenly realising the correlation between spending big money and signing quality [...]

Bayern Munich celebrate winning the Bundesliga. Photograph: Joerg Koch AFP/Getty Images
TV screens were getting positively drenched by salty bodily fluids on Saturday, you couldn’t move for all the money shots: everybody was crying, everywhere.
In Hamburg, Huub Stevens, the Bundesliga’s best-loved Dutch Gruffalo, shed a few tears after his last match in charge at Hamburg. His [...]