Bundesliga season review: 5 things we learnt from 2017/18 season

The 2017/18 season in Bundesliga drew to a close last evening, and in a fittingly spectacular fashion - a total of 36 goals were scored; Bayern were handed their heaviest home defeat since 2008; Hoffenheim qualified for their maiden Champions League group campaign; and Hamburg were relegated for the first time in 55 years, as there was drama aplenty.

However, this is only the tip of the iceberg, for we've witnessed a lot over the course of the whole campaign. An average of 2.79 goals was scored per game - the highest across the top five leagues, featuring 10 hat-tricks, second only to Italy's Serie A.

Robert Lewandowski picked up his third Golden Boot with 29 goals, 14 more than any other player on the league. Also, the season witnessed 9 managerial changes, with Hamburg alone making three changes in a single season.

If anything, this was a Bundesliga season to savour, but now that it has driven into the sunset, it's time to look back and reflect on a few takeaways from it.

Here are 5 lessons learned from another nerve-jangling season in Germany's top-flight.

#5 More mismanagement sees Wolfsburg again in play-offs drama

Wolfsburg survived another relegation by the skin of their teeth

Last year, Wolfsburg were condemned to relegation play-offs after mustering only a 16th place finish - a massive decline from the runners-up position clinched just two years earlier. Now, another year later, the Wolves find themselves in a familiar territory, as another dismal campaign ends in the dreaded relegation play-offs test.

One of the instrumental reasons for the club's dramatic fall in the recent times was the sale of high-profile players such as Ivan Perisic, Nicklas Bendtner, Naldo, Julian Draxler, Bas Dost, Max Kruse, Andre Schurrle and Kevin De Bruyne.

Wolfsburg had their coffers filled to the brim with cash from these sales but recklessly splashed them on poor quality players. The frequent managerial changes - six of them in the last two years alone - further compounded their misery.

The incompetence at management level seeped through on the field, as the Wolves turned in one deplorable performance after another. And for the second year running, the team narrowly escaped relegation but will now play Holstein Kiel in a two-legged play-off next week in a bid to retain Bundesliga credentials.

#4 Freiburg have Nils Petersen to thank for survival

Peterson is Bundesliga's most prolific after Lewandowski

SC Freiburg survived to tell another tale. Having been promoted in 2016, the Baden-Wattenburg side achieved a respectable 7th place finish last year but flirted with a return to the second-tier this time around as they finished just three points above the drop zone.

Freiburg has been poor in almost all aspects all season. But the sole shining light in their squad was Nils Petersen, who bagged 15 goals and assisted one - thereby contributing to 50% of the team's total tally.

The 30-year old is bettered in the competition only by Bayern's Lewandowski. His scoring exploits this season helped his otherwise desolate side stay afloat. Of the paltry sum of 36 points that they accrued from 34 games, 20 have been because of Peterson alone - driving his side out of the lurch multiple times. Some of his noteworthy heroics include the injury-time hattrick in the 4-3 win over Koln and a double against Dortmund in the 2-2 stalemate.

Freiburg escaped relegation by the skin of their teeth. And they owe Peterson for their survival, big time.

#3 End of an era at Hamburg

Hamburg are relegated from the Bundesliga for the first time

Until this season, Hamburger SV was the only side never to be relegated in Bundesliga's 55-year history. Having stayed in the top-flight since the inception in 1963, it earned them the nickname, Die Dino. Not even Bayern Munich, who only came up two years later, have such a distinction.

But now, it's time to rewrite some history. Hamburg's association with the Bundesliga officially ended yesterday, despite winning 2-1 against Monchengladbach. Danger loomed large upon the club through a string of dismal results over the course, but Hamburg could never muster a fightback.

Now when the deeds eventually caught up, the fans responded by pelting fireworks on the field. Security forces had to intervene as the scenes at Volksparkstadion threatened to boil over.

Hamburg has been absolutely abject this season, winning just 8 times all season. They also underwent as many as 3 managerial changes over the course, but no one able to halt the downward spiral. The club indeed had hit its all-time nadir. The result is a football season in the second-tier at least for 2018/19.

A clock in Hamburg's home stadium displayed how long exactly they've been in the Bundesliga. The time has finally come to reset it.

#2 Tedesco's magic puts Schalke back on the European map

Last year, Schalke hit a seven-year low when they finished 10th in the league. A season of chaos and cataclysm ended up with manager Markus Weinzierl being shown the door. In came Domineco Tedesco, a 32-year old without prior managerial experience with a senior team.

There was apprehension about the club's decision to appoint him last summer. Less than a year on since his appointment, it has turned into a surfeit of admiration. The Italian-born has taken the Ruhr Valley outfit back into the upper hierarchy of the league: Schalke are the runners-up in the final standings, their best finish in 8 years and back in the Champions League after a 3-year hiatus.

Under him, The Royal Blues changed from a worn-out, stuttering outfit to a sturdier one and gave the Bundesliga elite a run for their money. Perhaps, the best game that sums up their transformation is the 4-4 draw in the Revierderby against arch-rivals Borussia Dortmund. Trailing 4-0 at half-time, Schalke mounted an improbable comeback in the second half to force a share of the spoils.

That was the Royal Blues at their formidable best; an early preview of what lay ahead under Tedesco's regime. And 21 weeks later, the fans weren't disappointed as Schalke came back in the Bundesliga reckoning. Tedesco has worked his magic in the blue half of the Rhine Valley.

#1 Bayern are just too good for the others

The Bavarians claimed the Deutsche Meisterschale for a sixth season on the trot. On each occasion, the gap between them and the second-place hasn't been fewer than 10 points. Now that's a poor reflection of the chasm between Bayern and the rest, making the league all the more predictable from the championship standpoint.

If the German top-tier were to be plotted against a graph, this is how the hierarchy looks: 1) Bayern Munich 2) stratosphere 3) The chasing pack; such has been their supremacy in the league since the treble-winning campaign in 2013. And even if the status quo threatened to topple over at the beginning of the season after Bayern's mediocre start, things fell into perspective again eventually.

The issue is, teams lack the consistency in challenging for the title. How many times have we seen someone start on a bright note, only to sputter as time wears on? It was RB Leipzig last year; Dortmund in this. The fact that Bayern doesn't really have an able contender has made their job even easier.

Or on the other hand, maybe they're just too good for the league.

Edited by Abhijit Raghunathan