Nils Petersen's winning goal against Bayern Munich at the weekend sent ripples throughout the Bundesliga, not many that affected the Champions all too much. The goal was tidal wave for all of the clubs trying to avoid relegation, and they are not too happy about it.
"The other clubs had it in their own hands to get the important points," Wolfsburg sporting director Klaus Allofs said on Sport1. "But until now Bayern were a model for professionalism, and we do not see that professionalism in the last few matches."
Bayern have not won any of their three Bundesliga matches since winning the title, but no match had more impact on the table than their loss at the weekend. Perhaps the result would not have been as vexing had the Rekordmeister not previously collected 31 of a possible 33 points against the six clubs trying to avoid relegation. Freiburg's victory at the weekend is a big advantage for the Breisgau club, and bumps them up to 14th place with just one mach to go.
"That the Freiburger won against Bayern, I take it that they were the better team," said Hannover manager Martin Kind told SportBILD+, probably hoping his club's 2-1 victory against Augsburg got them higher up the table than 15th. Dirk Dufner, Hannover's sporting director, added: "Maybe soon four or five clubs will make a motion to only play Bayern in the last few matches."
"That Freiburg won against Bayern is madness," said Hertha Berlin midfielder Per Skjelbred. "Congratulations! They caught a good point in time to play against Bayern."
Hertha BSC was the team Bayern ultimately clinched the title against, Bastian Schweinsteiger notoriously putting the Champions ahead in the 80th minute after a respectable Hertha effort. Even with that loss, their chances of staying up are better than most, but their 35 points does not keep them safe. Ironic, how they may have had a better chance of being out of the survival race had they played Bayern two weeks later.
Even though Bayern's season is essentially over, Pep Guardiola was very adamant in his pre-match press conference Bayern were going to take the last two matches seriously. He even started nine players who started the second leg against Barcelona, but the team looked flat in Freiburg. Perhaps the motivation just is not there with nothing to play for, and the fact Freiburg were playing for their lives drove them to victory.
"It is a shame. I was never a champion with such great distance," said Stuttgart forward Martin Harnik, whose club still sits in the relegation zone despite their victory against Hamburger SV. "I do not know what it is like to motivate myself there."
Despite their angst, most of the clubs still know their table position is their own doing. Although they will pout at the help Freiburg was able to get, they had the entire season to avoid the circumstances they currently are in.
"It is brutal, but we had enough time to rectify this, and we didn't accomplish this in 33 match days. It is somewhat comprehensible, that Bayern is out of breath."