Munich - FC Bayern München underlined their status as German football’s most successful club by posting their 1,000th Bundesliga win on Saturday afternoon.
1. FC Köln were simply no match for the runaway Bundesliga leaders, whose 1,714th Bundesliga outing ended in a blemish-free 4-0 victory.
Meteoric rise
"The best team won today," admitted Köln head coach Peter Stöger on the back of the Billy Goats’ heaviest defeat of the 49-year-old’s tenure. "I don’t think there was any doubt about the gulf in class between the two sides. We tried to make life hard for them by limiting the space within the rules of the game. We’d like to congratulate Bayern on their 1,000th win."
Bayern’s unparalleled achievements down the years are even more impressive in light of the fact they were not even a founding Bundesliga member. The Bavarians had to wait two full seasons before earning promotion to Germany’s top tier in 1965, but they have not looked back since. Averaging 3.2 goals per game and with a record 24 Bundesliga titles to their name, there is no debating the top dog in these parts.
Destined for greatness
"1000 wins - that’s phenomenal, hats off to the fans, players, coaches and everyone involved at FC Bayern who has played their part," said Pep Guardiola after watching his side chalk up their tenth successive Bundesliga win since the start of the campaign. "As coaches, we know how difficult it is to win one match. 1000 wins shows how big this club is. I’m proud to be coach of FC Bayern München."
There have been many heart-warming moments for the 24 other steely-nerved souls to have stepped into the Bayern breach since 1963, but it would appear Guardiola’s class of 2015/16 could yet blow the club’s previous achievements out of the water. No team has ever gone an entire Bundesliga season unbeaten and no team has ever won four successive Bundesliga titles - for now at least.
The debate rolls on
Until that moment comes, it is fair to assume that Bayern will continue to chip away at a handful of lesser-known best-marks with customary nonchalance. They have already scored more goals (33) than any other Bundesliga club after ten matches, while the combined 23-strike tally of Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Müller - both on target against Köln - is a record high at this stage of the season.
It takes an extremely objective mind to single out the best Bayern team of all time: for most a toss-up between the great side of the 1970s (Franz Beckenbauer et al) and Jupp Heynckes’ 2012/13 treble winners. Give it another seven months, however, and we could have a new contender to the throne.
Christopher Mayer-Lodge
