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MUNICH

Bayern win league title

Goals by Croatia striker Ivica Olic and two from Dutch winger Arjen Robben

Published: 9 May 2010 09:23 CEST
Bayern win league title
Photo: DPA

sealed Bayern’s 3-1 win at Hertha Berlin on Saturday which gave them the

German league title as they finished five points clear of Schalke.

Having taken Bayern’s helm in July 2009, Bayern Munich coach Louis van Gaal is now one step closer to the treble with the German Cup final still to come against Werder Bremen on Saturday before the Champions League final on May 22 against Inter Milan.

Van Gaal admitted he was delighted his side dominated the German league this season after he collected his third national league title with four different teams.

Having won the Dutch league with Ajax in 1994, 1995 and 1996, Van Gaal won the Spain’s La Liga twice with Barcelona in 1998 and 1999 before winning last season’s Dutch title with AZ Alkmaar and now the Bundesliga with Bayern.

“It matters to me that we were best in everything this season,” said Van Gaal as Bayern won their 22nd German league title. “It is good that we won here: it means we keep the winning rhythm, which is important for our big games yet to come.”

“We have the most points, but also the best defence and the best attack,” the Dutchman added. Bayern lost just four league matches this term, the best record in the Bundesliga and their 20th victory on Saturday was another league best.

Munich collected 44 yellow cards all season, the lowest number in the Bundesliga and scored the most league goals with 72.

Having forged Munich’s array of stars into a formidable unit this season, pay-back time came in Berlin shortly after the final whistle as Bayern’s squad, armed with huge glasses of beer, hunted the coach to give him a soaking.

Tradition decrees in Germany that the coach of the winning Bundesliga team is drenched in beer after the final whistle on the last day of the season and the Dutchman was no exception.

Van Gaal finished the festivities drenched as captain Mark van Bommel emptied his glass over him. “Five or six of them came after me, I did quite well initially, I wasn’t completely soaked,” said the 58-year-old.

“But I dropped my guard a little, and they came back at me. It’s wonderful.”

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MUNICH

Four injured as WWII bomb explodes near Munich train station

Four people were injured, one of them seriously, when a World War II bomb exploded at a building site near Munich's main train station on Wednesday, emergency services said.

Published: 1 December 2021 16:41 CET
Smoke rises after the WWII bomb exploded on a building site in Munich.
Smoke rises after the WWII bomb exploded on a building site in Munich. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Privat

Construction workers had been drilling into the ground when the bomb exploded, a spokesman for the fire department said in a statement.

The blast was heard several kilometres away and scattered debris hundreds of metres, according to local media reports.

Images showed a plume of smoke rising directly next to the train tracks.

Bavaria interior minister Joachim Herrmann told Bild that the whole area was being searched.

Deutsche Bahn suspended its services on the affected lines in the afternoon.

Although trains started up again from 3pm, the rail operator said there would still be delays and cancellations to long-distance and local travel in the Munich area until evening. 

According to the fire service, the explosion happened near a bridge that must be passed by all trains travelling to or from the station.

The exact cause of the explosion is unclear, police said. So far, there are no indications of a criminal act.

WWII bombs are common in Germany

Some 75 years after the war, Germany remains littered with unexploded ordnance, often uncovered during construction work.

READ ALSO: What you need to know about WWII bomb disposals in Germany

However, most bombs are defused by experts before they explode.

Last year, seven World War II bombs were found on the future location of Tesla’s first European factory, just outside Berlin.

Sizeable bombs were also defused in Cologne and Dortmund last year.

In 2017, the discovery of a 1.4-tonne bomb in Frankfurt prompted the evacuation of 65,000 people — the largest such operation since the end of the war in Europe in 1945.

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