Champions Bayern Munich brought the curtain down on Pep Guardiola's second season in charge by recording a 2-0 victory over Mainz 05 this afternoon.
With the Allianz Arena in party mood, that mindset seemed to affect the home players, who despite dominating the possession, struggled to create many clear-cut openings during the opening 45 minutes.
© Getty Images
Captain Philipp Lahm spurned the best chance in just sixth minute when he headed straight at Loris Karius in the visiting goal.
For Karius, that would be his last meaningful contribution until he had to pick the ball out of the back of his net 19 minutes later.
Mainz's Niko Bungert was adjudged to have handled the ball inside the area and up stepped Robert Lewandowski to fire in his 17th Bundesliga goal of the season from the penalty spot.
As the half drew to a close, Bayern centre-back Dante had an opportunity to make it 2-0, but the Brazilian could not make a clean contact with Xabi Alonso's cross and the ball ended up skidding wide of the target.
However, while the hosts started the match in lacklustre fashion, the same cannot be said of how they begun the second half.
Just three minutes after the restart the ball dropped kindly for Bastian Schweinsteiger, who if reports are to be believed, could have been making his final appearance for Bayern ahead of a summer move to Manchester United. As the Bremen defence approached, the veteran midfielder curled his shot beyond the reach of a diving Karius to double Bayern's lead.
Mainz created chances of their own as the encounter wore on, but they were unable to find a way past Manuel Neuer as the home side saw out the remaining minutes with minimal fuss.
Liam Apicella
