Crazy compliment for world champions: Lahm is like a bratwurst for Gerland

Season 2016/17: One of the sporting greats ends his Bundesliga career - and receives praise from all sides.

Crazy compliment for world champions: Lahm is like a bratwurst for Gerland

Season 2016/17: One of the sporting greats ends his Bundesliga career - and receives praise from all sides. While Philipp Lahm is stopping, the youngest Bundesliga coach of all time, Julian Nagelsmann, appears on stage - and immediately conquers the hearts of the media and fans with his snappy slogans.

When the 2016/17 season went into the final, one of the greats ended his career after 385 Bundesliga games. Mehmet Scholl praised Philipp Lahm live on television: "Because you're standing there right now... you'll hear it from me personally: 75 percent of all the games you played were outstanding. And the other 25 were world class." Lahm's discoverer and sponsor Hermann Gerland remembered the beginnings of the Munich player: "I said to Felix Magath: 'I have a player for you. He looks like he's 15 and plays like he's 30. He can play any position except goalkeeper because he is a great footballer.' And then he took Philipp Lahm without seeing him. I came home and told my wife about Philipp Lahm every day. I said to her: 'If Philipp Lahm doesn't become a great player, I'll give my football teacher back and become a volleyball or water polo coach.' Watching Philipp Lahm play football is like eating a delicious bratwurst every day!"

And Lahm was able to retire with peace of mind, because FC Bayern Munich became German champions for the fifth time in a row on matchday 31 with a 6-0 win against Wolfsburg, who were at risk of relegation. After the clear smack, former Bayern striker Mario Gomez said: "In the end it felt like men's football against youth football." A curiosity on the side: For the eleventh time in a row, the Munich team did not win the title in their home arena, but in an away game. However, since you were eliminated early in both the DFB Cup and the Champions League, the joy erupted in an orderly manner.

With the promoted RB Leipzig, a new competition for Bayern seemed to be growing at the time. The Saxons were even undefeated up to the 14th matchday. Then Karl-Heinz Rummenigge promised neighbors FC Ingolstadt a white sausage meal if they won - and lo and behold, it helped. After Leipzig's 1-0 defeat at the Schanzer and Bayern's 5-0 win over Wolfsburg at the same time, Bayern moved up to the top of the table. Leipzig remained Bayern's only serious "enemy" (Uli Hoeneß) almost to the end.

When the two top teams met on matchday 33, the spectacular game ended 5:4 for the old Bulls - after the new Bulls had a 4:2 lead at one point. RB coach Ralph Hasenhüttl was still satisfied: "We didn't win any points today, but much, much more, I think: hearts and sympathy for what we played. We're second this season, that's amazing."

The surprise team of the season was another team - TSG Hoffenheim with the youngest Bundesliga coach so far: Julian Nagelsmann (after Bernd Stöber, who on October 23, 1976 at the age of 24 only coached FC Saarbrücken for one game). The media loved the eloquent trainer from the start. He was quickly traded as a future Bayern coach. As we know today - rightly so. Nagelsmann parried the rumor like an old hand: "I'm in contact with Hasenhüttl and Tuchel. We're just agreeing on who will be the coach and who will be the assistant coach." It was clear early on that Nagelsmann would lose two of his players, Rudy and Süle, to Bayern Munich in the coming season. But that didn't bother the young coach either: "A farmer has to part with his cows and pigs from time to time. That's part of it."

In the second half of the season, one team really turned up the heat. The SV Werder Bremen team scored 40 goals. In the 5-2 away win in Freiburg, Danish international and new winter signing Thomas Delaney netted three times. The successful musician and Werder fan Jan Delay could no longer be held back: "The Hamburg-Altona district office approved my application. My name is now 'Jan Delaney'." After the game, however, the celebrated Dane only answered the journalists briefly. Delaney has important plans: "First of all, I have to check whether my Wikipedia entry is up to date."

Early in the season, Cologne coach Peter Stöger was asked what would happen if 1. FC Cologne qualified for the Europa League. In his own way, the Austrian answered soberly: "Then we would take part in it." They did just that - for the first time in 25 years. At the season finale against Mainz, a whole club stood upside down and happily crooned the classic: "One day, one day, one day it will happen. And then we'll go to Milan to see FC Köln."

Away from the green turf, revelations ("Football Leaks") from the heart of football caused a stir. But some spicy details also made the football fans smile: Bayer striker Chicharito actually had a €100,000 bonus written into his contract for winning the championship with "Vizekusen". He certainly knew better about the history and stories of the Bundesliga two years later when he left for West Ham United.