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Niko Kovac clenched both fists, next to him Hasan Salihamidzic performed awkward, but very passionate Veitstänze. Thomas Müller enthusiastically kicked a bottle over the dry grass of the Munich Arena.

The scenes after Niklas Süle's late 1-0 victory in a difficult game against Werder Bremen betrayed a lot about Bayern's rarely-so-tempered state of mind. An almost forgotten experience, they strutted in the past years at this time usually in the gentle cycle of the already long-established championship celebration.

The participants then tried in vain to conjure up an artificial tension, while in the background the sponsors calmly puzzled over the details of the master celebrations, such as in which resolution the Go-Pro cameras installed on three-liter glasses transmit live images of the obligatory beer showers likely. This is different this year. Maybe they do not know until the last matchday whether there will be beer showers at all - and that's exactly what the Bavarians seem to enjoy.

"These are all finals now"

In the six previous championships, the lead over the second was always between 10 and 25 points. Boring. But masters in May, with the crowbar on the home stretch, in a real Fernduell, that had never experienced so experienced professionals in the service of Bayern. Patrik Andersson in Hamburg, the free kick in stoppage time, while Rudi Assauer in Schalke had premiered the championship. 2001 was that, felt shortly after the invention of color television.

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Bayern's victory against Bremen: Forced luck

Now, on the other hand, they are powerful in every pending game. A situation from which they draw strength now. "It's nice to feel this tingling, this tension," said goalkeeper Sven Ulreich. "These are all endgames now, the emotions are even higher, you go with a very different focus purely as in the last games of recent years."

When the Bavarians secured their shell five years ago in icy cold with a 3: 1 in Berlin in March, they wore gloves. Now they have to roll up their sleeves in the early summer, so that it will be something with the 29th championship. "The fact that we only have finals, that helps us to stay focused," said Süle and added to his goal, the distance deflected by Bremen Davy Klaassen unsustainable deflected: "Then must sometimes make such a dirty goal."

After Werder is in front of Werder

Of course it must be in such a game sometimes without the great shine - and maybe even in the remaining four games of the Bundesliga season. In Nuremberg and against Hanover, then in Leipzig and finally in Frankfurt, encounters in which there are supposed to be a lot of opponents. To the league whereabouts or to Europe. Light-footed elegance will be seen again by Bayern at least next season, now it's about fight, patience, merciless Grasnarbengegrätsche.

After beating Bremen, coach Kovac, a self-confessed Roman Catholic, gave his side a break for Easter Sunday. "It's a party that has to be celebrated," said the Bayern coach. On an increase in festive mood by a Dortmund slip-up in Freiburg on Sunday afternoon hardly dared to hope. Leon Goretzka assumes that BVB "will solve the relatively sovereign". Then they will continue to fight, in the Fernduell, until the last matchday.

Renato Sanches once again complained about being a reservist ("Five minutes is too little") and flirted with his departure ("I have to see what is best for me, whether I play in Portugal, Spain or England "), is bearable for Bayern. Starting on Easter Monday, preparations for the cup hit on Wednesday in Bremen, a game for renewed adrenaline rush.

The semi-final. The next final.

Bayern Munich - Werder Bremen 1: 0 (0: 0)
1: 0 Süle (75.)
Bavaria: Ulreich - Kimmich, Süle, Boateng, Alaba - Martínez (59 Goretzka), Thiago - Gnabry, Müller (70 Ribéry), Coman - Lewandowski
Bremen: Pavlenka - Gebre Selassie, Veljkovic, Moisander, Augustinsson - Sahin (81st Pizarro) - Möhwald (60th Langkamp), Eggestein, Klaassen - Rashica (73rd Osako), Kruse
Referee: Welz
Yellow-red: Veljkovic (58.)
Spectators: 75,000 (sold out)