Grades for Bayern Munich’s past 10 seasons — inspired by Philipp Lahm

Former Bayern Munich captain Philipp Lahm has given his former club a rather high rating for the season.

In an interview with Sky, Lahm gave Bayern a season rating of 2. Assuming he went by the German rating of 1~5 or 6, 2 means you weren’t perfect, but you were pretty darn solid. Well, I believe a lot of people will find that hard to agree with.

Even Lahm himself wasn’t too convinced of Bayern’s season. “When you become champion and win a title, that’s absolutely good. But we all know that’s not enough at Bayern in the long run,” he said. “Especially if you’re eliminated in the second round of the Pokal. You can go out of the Champions League quarterfinals, but not against the 7th in the Spanish league. But that’s nothing new, everyone knows that. Everyone knows FC Bayern’s aspirations.”

Now then, this sparked an interesting idea. I decided to give Bayern’s past ten seasons a grade each, going off the same grade scale that Lahm used. Let’s see how we did over the last decade, shall we?

2012/13 — 1

Ah, the legendary 12/13 season. Jupp Heynckes’ seemingly unstoppable Bayern team. The first treble winning team in the club’s long and rich history. I still remember the ball slowly rolling over the goal line at Wembley that fateful night. I don’t think I need to justify this grade at all.

2013/14 — 2

Pep Guardiola’s first season in charge of Bayern could have gone better. Lots of people will remember the catastrophic 0-5 aggregate defeat to Real Madrid in the Champions League semifinals. But Pep’s side still won a double, becoming the fastest ever Bundesliga champions in history. Now that’s something to be proud about. It wasn’t the best season, but it was satisfactory.

2014/15 — 3

This season was a slight downer. An injury ravaged Bayern crumbled meekly in the Champions League semifinals to Barcelona, but did salvage some pride by defeating the treble winners at home. The Pokal ended with a catastrophic no-goal-scored shootout, and Bayern only ended up with the league. It was a weak finish from a strong team, but I guess one trophy is better than nothing.

2015/16 — 2

Pep’s last season in charge was probably his most tantalizing. Bayern were just one goal away from reaching the Champions League final. It was painful, but it was also a season full of memories. Remember the last gasp comeback against Juventus? Or the nail biting penalty shootout against Dortmund in Berlin? A double winning season always feels good.

2016/17 — 3

Bayern fans don’t really like Carlo Ancelotti, and I’m no exception. He only won the Bundesliga and the Super Cup in his first season. That said, his team did play decent football in the latter stages of the season, and were knocked out of the Champions League by a combination of dumb refereeing, injuries, and bad luck. Plus, we’ll always have that last second Robben goal against Leipzig.

2017/18 — 3

How do I describe this season? It started horribly, then picked up speed, then ended on a sour note. Jupp Heynckes came back to the hot seat to help out his team, and help he did, as he won the Bundesliga with a fair few weeks to spare. He also reached the semifinals of the Champions League, but finished trophyless in it and the Pokal. It was a painful end to the season, and I’d rather not remember it. But we did win the league, so…yay?

2018/19 — 2

I know, how does Niko Kovač get higher than a 3? Well, he did win a double, which is a lot more than what most Bayern managers this decade can say. I still remember that beautiful night in Berlin, and maybe I’m biased because I was there to witness it live. But it did give me a ton of great memories. That defeat to Liverpool was a mere blemish on an otherwise successful season. 2 for me.

2019/20 — 1

Another treble, this time courtesy of Hansi Flick. Remember the Pokal final against Leverkusen? Remember the 8-2 drubbing of Barcelona? Remember that glorious night in Lisbon against Paris? So many fond memories. Again, no justification necessary.

2020/21 — 2

Flick’s second season in charge wasn’t ideal, but we have to remember that he was dealing with a thin squad, a crazy schedule, and troubles with the board. All in all, winning the Bundesliga and giving Paris a good fight in the Champions League with our B-team was a decent season. Also, did I mention the completion of the sextuple? That makes it worth a 2. We’ll just forget about Kiel…

2021/22 — 3

I’m going a bit harsher than Lahm and giving us a 3 for this season. You can’t lose 0-5 to Gladbach, who are having their worst season in recent memory. You can’t lose to Villarreal in the Champions League either. I could have given Julian Nagelsmann a 4, but the fact that he at least won the historic tenth consecutive Bundesliga gives him an extra point. I still don’t trust him though.

So there you have it! Do you agree or disagree? How would you grade our past ten seasons? Let us know in the comments!